Later, Mirage reflected he could have done things differently. He could have done nothing at all. He could have slipped quietly out of the barracks and gone to ground. Cybertron was alive again, though only in fill and patches. There were plenty of places he could hide. Elita-1 hadn't surrendered. The femme guerillas had held out against Shockwave while the Ark crew had been in stasis. They might even have believed his story.
The spy did not give himself good odds. In their position, he would not trust a high caste ex-Spec Ops turncoat. Mirage didn't know where the Autobots still at liberty were or how to contact them so they could vouch for him. Assuming they would. Prowl might still be angry enough to hang him out to drain. Jazz might save him. Maybe. If he were useful.
All that speculation was moot because he hadn't taken the opportunity to throw in his lot with the freedom fighters. He'd called Soundwave instead. In the fraught moment after Thundercracker had seized, Mirage had automatically sent a communication to the Decepticon Third-in-Command like the Seeker had asked him to do in the event of an emergency with Tempest. He had a handy popup on his HUD with contact details.
Rumble showed up fast with a big Rotor Mirage didn't recognise but who had medic flashes on their pauldrons. The helicopter bundled all of them, Tempest included, to the hospital then handed Thundercracker off to Hook. Rumble parked himself next to Mirage in the waiting room. If it was not clear enough he was under guard, the Rotor stayed too taking up most of the bench.
Tempest expressed his dislike for the medical environment by pushing himself up in the sling and hissing at everyone including the cleaning drones. Rumble did not seem to take the noise personally but the Rotor did and hissed back at the seekerling, who flared his wing buds and swatted at the lavender mech.
"Must you?" Mirage asked them both pettishly, trying to restrain the bitlet without damaging him. This was the liveliest Tempest had been since they had first met, which was not convenient at all. The helicopter was presumably old enough to know better.
"A significant part of socialising Seekers and Seeker-kin is establishing hierarchy." The Rotor replied in a pleasant mezzo-soprano. "Play interactions among litter-mates helps teach boundaries and ease anxiety. Lone births or sparklings raised in isolation tend to be the most aggressive and volatile." Their face-plate creased into a grim smile. "Starscream is an excellent cautionary example."
"How closely are you acquainted with my conjunx's trine-mate?" The Towerling tactically and tactfully chose personal relationships rather than designations (in case there had been no formal introductions between the parties) or rank (as that might be seen as trying to poach authority). Mirage did not want to start a fight. Thundercracker had asked him to avoid other Seekers but hadn't mentioned Aerials other than the Autobot flyers. He needed more intel.
"I was one of his caregivers. Thankfully briefly." The helicopter met the noble's incredulous look with a smirk. "My designation is Gyre. I was the amica endura to the previous Winglord's younger sibling."
"You're not a Seeker." One of the pillars of his reality pre-war had been the exclusivity of Vosian citizenship. They were a proud people and zealously guarded their privilege. One of the most heated rifts between Vos and the central government had been the production of Made-to-Order Seekers to bolster the Cybertronian military. Mirage hadn't thought much of it at the time but Thundercracker's mention of the perceived insult had brought it back to mind. Endless Senatorial debates had revolved around the use of existing frame-types for Cold Constructs. The aspect of the furore that had affected him had been smoothed over by his sire reassuring him that he was bespoke. No one was going to make fake people who looked like him.
"My carrier was. High caste too. She was a rampant slut." Gyre chuckled indulgently. "I suppose I should say hedonist but really she just liked interfacing and did not like her partners being policed by her House. That made her political." The glyph was heavy with subcontextual signifiers. Political as in outspoken. Political as in an agitator. And likely political as in disappeared into a reeducation facility or a victim of empurata. "The Winglord used my connection to her to appease the moderates. He did that sporadically. Like sending one of his heirs to the Science and Exploration Academy."
The doors into the waiting room slid open with a chime, admitting a curlicue of dust and a very shiny Air Commander. Gyre stood up as Starscream approached, though not out of courtesy. The helicopter put themselves between the Seeker and the Autobot pointedly.
"Hail Unicron and He comes." Rotor blades flicked out in a screening fan and threat display. Gyre was considerably larger than either of them, in a weight class with convoys. "Pleasant shift to you, Starscream."
"Cram it in your intakes." Starscream snapped then dismissed the helo entirely. "I'm here for the Autobot." He squared his shoulders striking an imperious pose as he addressed Mirage. "You are under arrest for assault and parole violation." His smirk was blatant. "You will surrender the sparkling and submit." A flash of fang sharpened his expression. "You should be good at that by now."
"Commander Shockwave has authority over law enforcement and prisoner assignments." Gyre's melodic voice was a stark contrast to Starscream. There was an undercurrent too. Mirage knew the Seeker heard it when he bristled, wings flaring. Tempest saw the movement if not the details and hissed.
The Air Commander didn't even twitch.
Not a shiver, not a flinch. No response at all to his sparkling's vocalisation. That was either masterful acting or a coding anomaly. The Towerling could credit Starscream will that level of skill. Surviving as the Decepticon 2IC would take a spark as cold as the void. But his own bitlet?
"I outrank Shockwave." Starscream was not debating. "The Autobot is coming with me." His null rays cycled on. "Vertical or horizontal." His optics didn't leave Mirage as he snapped an aside to Rumble. "And if you try sneaking around behind me to shoot me in the back, you little glitch, your puppet-master won't find your carcass."
"Like the chopper says, 'Screamer, Shockwave's got all the prisoners. Megatron was real specific." The cassette was on his feet with his hands where everyone could see them. Ostentatiously so. Rumble did stay where he was, though.
"You are no longer Thundercracker's next-of-kin. Neither is Skywarp." Gyre remarked, their weight shifting to the right to put more of themselves in front of Mirage, who took note of that interesting titbit of intel. It was possibly included as part of his conjunx's medical profile. The Rotor seemed quite well briefed given Thundercracker's emergency transfer to the hospital. "You have no right of custody for Tempest either."
"I am the Winglord." Starscream's optics narrowed to angry slits as his vocal register rose in pitch and volume. The Seeker liked being the center of attention but it seemed to the spy that they were going off script. "My word is law for all Vosians."
"There're a lot of grey frames unaccounted for between you and the title." The helicopter spoke mildly as though climbing over corpses was the done thing for the high caste and it was the lack of confirmation that was the hitch. "The Royal Council never endorsed you. Several of your cousins never enlisted. They could fly in tomorrow with a cadre of Neutrals. That would be awkward, wouldn't it?"
"Any Seeker is welcome to challenge me. Many have." The Air Commander's confidence would have been visible from space. "Would you like to try, half-code?"
"Ooh, you better not let the boss hear that." Rumble bounced on his toes, doubtless already transmitting the exchange to his Host. "Pretty sure line slurs are like officially beneath the dignity of officers, 'Screamer."
They were toying with him, Mirage realised. No, not playing. Delaying. Where was Soundwave? He edged behind Gyre, surreptitiously loosening the sling so he could transform around Tempest if the situation escalated. He was not going anywhere with Starscream. The noble lamented his deactivated invisibility as the doors chimed. If the Seeker had summoned enforcers, he'd dash for one of the consulting rooms and barricade himself inside.
Megatron, loud and abrupt, strode in covered in dust with carbon scoring limning his fusion cannon and Soundwave at his right hand.
