South Central Oregon: 2000 CE
In a battle, the tiniest details can sometimes be the thing that is the longest remembered, even after the fires are extinguished, and the damage is repaired. Sounds become muted into a kind of personal tunnel, where the sole focus becomes survival– dodge one more missile, fire one more shot in the hopes that it will be the last one needed to make the tunnel go away again.
The sound of energy weapons, as they rip through the atmosphere is the molecules screaming in protest as they are roughly shoved aside– or obliterated. The noise echoes in the dark of the mind's eye for as long as memory remains.
Rewind wasn't sure why he'd asked to go along, when Prowl had set Blaster to help Teletran One figure out why Jazz's transmission had been cut off. More surprising was Prowl's nod, accepting the tape's offer of aid.
By the time Rewind and Prowl arrived on the scene, the red and yellow brothers were in that tunnel. Each covering the other in the deadly dance of battle. One fired, nudging the other to move as a beam of energy ricocheted over his head.
The pair of jets took another run over the pair, as they stood back to back, then side by side, fighting on. Their voices were audible over the sound of the battle, but it wasn't until Rewind was closer that he could actually hear what they were yelling.
The twins were arguing. Again.
"So what, you slagging retro-rat minded garbage bot! Look to your left!" Rewind heard Sunstreaker call, as he took a shot at the green seeker jet strafing the area.
"Go jump in a smelter, Sunshine–" Sideswipe nearly walked into a laser blast, but jumped back at the last minute, almost tripping over an outcropping.
"Other left, half-volt!"
"You mean RIGHT! Get it straight, you ornamental piece of yellow scrap!" Sideswipe took a moment to glance over at the yellow Autobot, firing over his head.
"You're just jealous I can still tag 'em twice without reloading–"
"Never been jealous of that– 'cause my score's still higher than yours."
"That's a laugh– Duck."
Sideswipe ducked a fraction too late and the missile scraped down the length of his arm, from shoulder to hand, making a mess of the armor plating, before impacting in the ground in front of him. It detonated, throwing him backwards.
"Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker aimed his fury towards the source of the missile, "Slagging Con!"
"I'm okay, Sunny–"
"Then get your shiny red spoiler back up and prove it!" Sunstreaker snarled, ducking another attack.
Prowl cut loose with a few shots as he transformed and sprinted the short distance towards the twin still struggling to get up.
"Where's Jazz?" Rewind heard Prowl asking, as the tape followed, trying to find a clear shot on the jets zipping overhead.
Oddly enough, Sideswipe just pointed upwards with his good arm, as he got back to his feet.
In retrospect, it really wasn't the best idea that Jazz had ever had.
Actually, to be honest with himself, Jazz realized it wasn't even close to the dumbest thing he'd ever done– it was far, far worse.
As he clung to the canopy of the F-15 fighter jet, while it careened through the clouds, Jazz fought that little instinct to look down towards the ground. Even as he tried to free his grappling hook from where it had gotten warped around a strut in the jet's shattered cockpit he was well aware of the precariousness of his situation.
A flash of red and yellow far below distracted him for a moment– Jazz hoped the twins were having better luck than he was.
Thundercracker banked sharply, trying to dislodge the unwanted hitchiker, but Jazz only tightened his grip on the jet's wing.
"No matter how much ya try, y'ain't gonna be able t'get rid of me by doin' that." He chided the Decepticon. The speed at which Thundercracker was going meant that the likelihood of being heard was very low. The words were more than likely lost in the rush of wind and clouds as they screamed through the sky.
The first shot that Thundercracker had fired had fried the Autobot's radio, so there was no way for Jazz to tell the pain blinded jet that there was no use in trying any of these fancy moves to throw him off. He was, in a word, stuck.
Jazz didn't know how Sunstreaker and Sideswipe managed to perform maneuvers like this on a semi-regular basis; this was turning out to be one of the roughest rides of his life. He tried to adjust his grip on the wing, but slipped.
The Decepticon felt the slip, and did a full barrel roll, knocking Jazz from his perch, and the Autobot started to fall. Only to be brought up short by the short length of cable that he'd been unable to retract when the other pair, seeing Thundercracker's predicament, had started to fire at him. Unfortunately, their efforts had only ensured that the grappling hook had become fused inside the cockpit.
Thundercracker continued his incoherent yelling, as he banked again. He only managed to slam the dangling Autobot against his own frame– making Jazz wince with each blow. Jazz felt, rather than heard the rending crack as steel-glass and metal rendered fragile from the repeated wash of plasma bursts give way.
"Ya really –Ow– should stop — Ooof– 'fore you–"
Crunch.
A piece of the battered F-15's left flap was sheered away, and sailed end over end towards the ground below– about half a mile back. It disappeared, as Thundercracker started shuddering, going into an uncontrolled spin, and spiraled towards an isolated patch of forest, and a speck that looked like a human residence.
Wings started clipping trees as the canopy strut gave way.
Jazz grabbed at the closest wing, ignoring the battering branches that were finding cracks, and getting caught.
"Pull up! Pull up or yer gonna hit th' house–" he yelled, not really sure if he should hope that he could be heard.
Some of what Jazz was yelling must have penetrated Thundercracker's haze, because he started to obey– but a little too late. The extra weight and excessive velocity only allowed him to pull up enough so that he only caught the top of the roof.
Thundercracker flipped in midair, bouncing twice before landing flatly in a stand of trees a few hundred feet behind the house.
Jazz felt the impact of the ground, then... nothing at all.
The door to the house flew open, and out flew a small statuesque woman, cell phone in hand. Shingles slid down the side of the house, obeying gravity, to land at her feet. Her gaze followed the path of destruction. Staring at the wreckage in her backyard, her mouth opened. Then closed.
She raised the phone to her ear.
"Yeah... this is Carrie. Uh... I'm going to be late. Yeah. A jet just clipped my house, and crashed in my backyard."
The jet groaned, and transformed into a robot. Stood. Then promptly fell over again.
"Uh. Huh." Carrie said. "Make that... giant robots. No, I have NOT been drinking. Just— I'll call you later."
In Orbit
The satellite's tracking system silently watched as one of the locator signals winked then went out. Dumbly, it relayed the loss of signal towards the recently departed commander, and went back to tracking the remaining signals.
South Central Oregon
The sky was a faint blue, like a cobalt solution with intermittent clouds of a white vapor,
looking oddly like fluffy bits of spun fiber insulation floating in the sky. A kind of sky that most human children would use as an afternoon's entertainment. Rewind wasn't looking for unusual cloud formations, however. He was trying to puzzle out why Sideswipe was pointing up. As far as he knew, Jazz couldn't fly.
That's why Rewind was the first one to notice the boxy dark blue shape in the distance. From the angle, it was obvious that Soundwave was not just out on some random patrol– he was headed straight for the fight.
"We have more company," Rewind warned Prowl in calm tones.
The white Autobot turned from steadying Sideswipe, to see the Decepticon communicator arriving.
"This is... not good," Prowl muttered, trying to contact Blaster for more backup. Rewind himself could tell it wasn't working. Soundwave was already jamming all transmissions in the area.
Sideswipe raised his gun, taking a shot at one of the jets as it swooped low. A stream of smoke started trailing away as the aircraft rose again, circling the vacant lot that had become their battlefield.
"Got 'im!" The excited red mech said with a smirk at his brother.
"About time," grumbled Sunstreaker, "You've only been shooting at him for the past twenty minutes."
"Stuff it, Sunshine. You've got incoming."
Sunstreaker crouched and launched a missile towards the second jet. It exploded harmlessly in the clouds above, while the jet reappeared a few meters to the left, still screaming towards the Autobots on the ground.
"Decepticons. Retreat now." The words cut through the air clearly, as though Soundwave were standing next to them. "You are outmatched. Retreat, and regroup back at base."
Even Prowl looked surprised at the order.
The twins looked at each other, just before Sideswipe lurched, and nearly fell over.
The Ark's Bridge
The cassette watched and waited with a patience won only through practice.
With Prowl gone, Laserbeak had hoped that Blaster's attention would waver. And afford him the opportunity he had been waiting for. Unfortunately, it looked as though the communications guru was focused on the task that had been set to him– which means that he and Teletran One were both alert right now.
"Prowl? Prowl, can ya read me?" Laserbeak watched as Blaster tried to establish a radio link to the commander. "Prowl– ya got incoming!"
The radar signals on the map screen started converging.
"Aww, man... this ain't good. Teletran– can ya patch through the local satellite, and maybe cut down on twelve and sixteen megahertz–"
"Acknowledged. Interference on that channel appears to be local communications service."
...a jet just clipped my house and crashed in my backyard...
A jet, Ookay...
Uh... make that... giant robots.
Giant robots? Uh. Starting the weekend early, aren't you?
No, I have NOT been drinking...Just– I'll call you later
Wait, Ca–
"Teletran– trace that call!" Blaster frowned, hitting a few more keys "Prowl! Are ya still there man?"
"Yes, Blaster, I hear you. Soundwave ordered a retreat– Jazz is still missing though. Can you run a trace on his radio locator?"
"I'm tryin' Prowl, but if he got a direct hit to his radio systems, it's probably fried with the rest."
"That is quite likely. Sunstreaker said that he could not establish radio communications with Jazz when they arrived."
"What happened?" Blaster started doing something that Laserbeak couldn't quite see.
"Apparently Jazz was... hitching a ride on Thundercracker. When they arrived, Thundercracker had taken him up fairly high, and transformed. They saw him start to fall, and then stop– the other Decepticons started firing on Jazz, and ended up hitting Thundercracker. Then they realized that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were firing on them, so they lost track." Prowl sounded, to Laserbeak's amusement, quite annoyed. "Sideswipe is going to need transport back to the Ark."
Teletran One made a sound, gaining Blaster's attention.
"We got a report of a jet crashin' about 200 miles southwest of your location."
"Thundercracker?"
"Sounds like it. Want me to rouse Ratchet, and send him to meet you?"
"Excellent idea. We don't know what we will find– I will send Rewind back with Sideswipe."
"Yeah. He doesn't need to see it, if it's as bad as I'm thinkin' it will be. I'll let you know if I find anything else."
"Thank you."
Laserbeak waited for Blaster to rise to get Ratchet, but was disappointed when the red mech merely used a radio signal to contact the medic. Then settled back to continue to try and trace the vague cell phone conversation that he'd picked up from the satellite. Laserbeak settled back to continue his vigil.
South Central Oregon
"Rewind, wait here with Sideswipe, until we can get him a lift back to the Ark. Sunstreaker and I are going to see if we can find Jazz."
"Sunny's up to it, and so'm I." Protested Sideswipe.
Prowl stepped back as he started to receive open communications lines with Teletran One and Blaster. Rewind found himself, for the moment, alone with the Ark's most notorious duo.
"You're hurt, bro, and about ready to drop." Sunstreaker said with a narrow look at his twin. Sideswipe looked as though he were about to argue. "You can't lie to me, Swipe. You know that."
Sideswipe tilted his head, giving his brother a matching glare.
"Yes, I'm tired too, but I didn't have a missile rip my arm open. You stay here with Rewind."
It's not that bad– really, Sunny."
"Last time you said that, I ended up having to carry you back." Sunstreaker said evenly. "You dinged my paint with all your flailing around."
Sideswipe just glared at Sunstreaker for a moment, then his entire frame seemed to sag.
"Blaster's picked up a local report of a jet crashing to the southwest." Prowl returned with the same solemn look as he had left with. "If they've picked that up, so have the Decepticons."
"Crash?" Sideswipe looked at Prowl in alarm. "Slaggit–"
"Ratchet's on his way. We don't know what we'll find yet. Teletran One lost locator contact with Jazz when his radio went out."
Sunstreaker said a few words about Thundercracker that Rewind couldn't quite catch– but the tone said enough. Though in the next moment the larger yellow mech had stepped forward to catch Sideswipe by the good elbow.
"For cryin' out loud, Sideswipe, sit down."
Surprisingly, Sideswipe obeyed, sitting abruptly on the outcropping he'd nearly tripped over during the fight. Sunstreaker held onto the arm for another minute to make sure that his brother didn't fall over, then stepped away.
"Let me know the minute you find him." the red terror demanded.
"Yeah, you'll be the first– you know that." Sunstreaker clapped a hand onto his brother's shoulder, just looking down at him for a moment.
"Let's get moving." Prowl interrupted, transforming. "The sooner we find the crash site, the better."
With a last smirk at Sideswipe, Sunstreaker ran to catch up with Prowl, transforming into his vehicle mode. The pair sped off in a cloud of dust, leaving Rewind to stand awkwardly near the much larger warrior.
In Orbit
It was a rundown piece of floating debris, trapped in a spiraling orbit around the planet. The ancient looking satellite hung like a warped and broken ornament in the skies, on invisible strings. It almost reeked of decay and disrepair.
And yet it was the most welcome sight that Skywarp had seen all day. He almost asked for permission to teleport directly inside to the minuscule repair bay, when he remembered the undertones with which Soundwave had ordered the retreat.
Not a good idea to call attention to himself right now, better leave that to someone else.
Skywarp frowned inwardly.
Thundercracker hadn't responded to the order, nor was he responding to any subsequent radio messages. It was almost as though he had been deactivated.
It wasn't as though they had abandoned him to his fate, Skywarp argued with himself, even if they had wanted to, after the Lamborghini twins had arrived, they'd been hard pressed to make sure that Sideswipe hadn't had a chance to use his rocket pack, lest they, like him, find a difficult to get rid of Autobot strapped to their back.
The echo of the scream still echoed in his audials.
Thundercracker had taken the white Autobot up as far as he could, then transformed, so that the white and black Autobot hadn't been able to hold onto him, letting him fall before transforming into jet mode to take off.
Skywarp had watched the panicked Autobot falling– and then something unexpected. He supposed they all should have remembered which Autobot they were dealing with. Jazz, it was always noted in the files, had a slew of skills and tools at his disposal, and could be expected to pull things out at the last possible minute, when things looked the worst for him. Like now.
The Autobot's right hand shimmered, vanished, and was replaced by a grappling hook, and launched towards Thundercracker– who had barely finished transforming back into F-15 mode. The hook caught him in the canopy, and the Decepticon had screamed.
Both Skywarp and their third had fired– some shots glancing off of the Autobot as he pulled himself up by the near-invisible cable– and one or two had gone astray and hit their comerade. They'd had no time for anything after that; everything dissolved into that hazy tunnel, as the Autobot twins had arrived and begun to harry them.
And in the tunnel, no other sound mattered than the rush of the wind.
Not even the howling yells of a wounded Decepticon who might be called a friend.
All that mattered were the bright and dark mechs who were firing on him from the ground, singing his wings before he could teleport out of the way.
Nothing else.
Vaguely through the fighter's tunnel, Skywarp had heard the sound of engines fading in the distance.
"Inside. Now." The words echoed inside Skywarp's head as Soundwave operated the airlock with a short radio signal. Soundwave's arrival had been welcome in a way, but now– Skywarp was not looking forward to the consequences.
South Central Oregon
Rewind looked at Sideswipe, watching the fighter keep looking towards the direction that his brother and Prowl had driven off towards, then back at him. And the tape continued to pace, reviewing data that had little to nothing to do with the awkward situation he found himself in right now.
Silence.
"So... Shortstack..."
"Rewind."
"Whatever... you wanna sit down? You're makin' me dizzy, just watching you."
"Sorry." Rewind found a spot somewhere near Sideswipe, and sat down. "Better?"
"Yeah." Sideswipe stopped looking at the road, and peered down at the tape with a measuring gaze. "What made you come out here?"
"Curiosity. I wanted to help." Rewind didn't flinch at the look, which seemed to make the red mech happy.
Sideswipe grunted almost approvingly, and went back to watching the road.
"You and your brother keep score?" Rewind broke the silence this time.
Yeah. So?"
"Why?"
"Old habit." Sideswipe shrugged, then winced as he jarred the injured arm.
"I see." said Rewind with a thoughtful air.
"See what?" The frown was back, and so was the hot blue gaze.
"You're from Kaon, aren't you? Gladiatorial games?" Rewind found himself asking, almost without thinking. He could have found the information by checking with Teletran One, but somehow it seemed more right to just ask this time.
"What of it?" A suspicious surprise flooded the larger Autobot's features.. "Who told you that? Jazz?"
"Just a guess, I've barely had time too talk to anyone." the tape replied calmly, ignoring the suspicion. "What's it like?"
"What?"
"Being a twin."
"Oh." Sideswipe gave him a halfhearted shrug that didn't involve the use of his right arm. "It's... hard to explain. Why?"
"I keep seeing twins as a recurring theme in some of the stories that Teletran One has picked up. Would you like to hear one?" Blaster's archivist tape reviewed the one that had been shown to him. "It might help to pass the time."
Sideswipe's optics narrowed, then a grin spread across his face.
"Why not?"
In the beginnings of time, before humans were even created, there lived another race.
Among the people of this race, were a special pair of twins, who were skilled at all the traditional arts, and most especially at the traditional ball game of their people. The twins were so close, that one could not be found without the other. They were, however, competitive in all things, and the game was no exception.
While playing the game they were loud– yelling their skill, and yelling their joy. They were so loud, in fact, that noise reached into the underground caves of Xibalba, and echoed off of the walls, until the old gods themselves were annoyed.
Then the old gods sent for the brothers, challenging them to a game.
The brothers accepted this challenge, knowing no better, and went to Xibalba to meet the challenge of the gods.
The old gods manipulated the game, however, so that the brothers lost. And even worse, they killed the twins, and hung the head of one on a tree of gourds with human faces outside the caves.
Now, curiosity is something that the young have in abundance, and the young goddess Xquic was no exception. Intrigued by the story, she came to view the strange fruit of the gourd tree, and as she viewed it, the mouth opened, and spit into her hand. She immediately concieved and bore the twins Xbalanque and Hunahpu, sons of a bodiless head.
These new twins grew at an unnatural rate, and when they were grown, as their father and uncle before them, they were skilled at all things, and most especially the traditional ball game. Like their father and uncle, they were rarely to be found one without the other, and like their father and uncle before them, they shouted loudly while playing the game.
And like those who came before, the echo reached the underworld. The old gods were angered yet again– and invited these two to play against the might of the gods, as their father had done before them.
Remembering how their father had been manipulated and tricked, the twins were able to defeat the old gods at their own game. However, they were killed anyhow, and their bones were thrown into the river.
It did not take long, however, before they were reincarnated as travelling entertainers, and visited the old gods in Xiabalba once again. They performed songs, and dances for the old gods, and at the end, a magic trick, wherein Xbalanque beheaded his twin, and then restored him to life.
Amused by the trick, the old gods demanded that it be performed upon them as well. Each wanting to be the first to be beheaded, and restored. The twins were only too happy to oblige them, and beheaded each and every one of the old gods.
And once the last head was removed, and the clamor came to restore them, the brothers refused to restore them to life. In this way, the old gods were defeated, and removed. And the world became safe for a new race to be born.
The human race.
Xbalanque and Hunahpu rose from the caves of the underworld, and took their place in the sky as the sun and the moon– a gift to those who were yet to be born.
"Humans have ... very odd stories." Sideswipe said as the story ended. "None of them could actually go through all that. It's not like they're as tough as we are."
"So I've noticed." Rewind stood again, kicking a small rock around. "That wasn't one of the strangest I found so far– but it's pretty close."
"... odd though." Sideswipe was watching the pacing again, and not complaining this time.
"What is?"
"Nah. It's nothing. Just reminded me of some stuff that happened a long time ago in Kaon. Without all that dyin' stuff. Or the gods."
"Would you tell me about it?" Rewind tried not to sound too hopeful.
"Why?" Suspicion.
"I'm interested? Besides, have you got anything better to do while we wait to hear from Prowl and Sunstreaker?"
Sideswipe was silent for a moment.
"I guess I could. Sunny could tell you some of the details bettern' me though."
"I don't mind." Rewind said, settling himself down to listen. "Sometimes the details get in the way.