This chapter was going to go further into the Iacon stuff than it turned out to, but where it ends works. Really enjoying working on it, as always! This fic does, in theory, take place in a TFP alternate canon, but I've brought some more IDW elements into the pre-war setting (like the mentions of Nominus Prime). Some familiar faces coming up in this chapter and future ones, so enjoy!
Starscream had put the ordeal of carrying Updraft well into his past. It had been a nightmare of bedrest and discomfort, trying to do his job from his suite while keeping the whole affair from his lieutenants. His very nosy lieutenants, and anyone else on Cybertron who thought his personal life was their business.
Restless recharge. Nausea. An insistent push against his spark chamber and the constant, gentle hum in his audials of a growing spark. Everything, even his most base frequencies, were wrong. Alone in the dark, his curtain drawn to block out Vos's lights, he'd whispered to the spark to stop driving him crazy. That he had work to do, and they were wasting his time and his life.
He also murmured that at least they would belong to him. An heir was hard to come by, and Skywarp and Thundercracker certainly weren't that. At least they would have everything Starscream was to bask in.
Near the end, Starscream had been kept awake by renewed discomfort and a faint glow, radiating from his spark chamber and filling his suite with red light.
"You had better be smart," he'd gritted out that last awful night. "You had better be beautiful, and obedient. You had better stay out of my way."
His physician's first queries about the sire had been met with such venom that she had simply stopped asking. Starscream had filled in that information secretly, and placed it in the bureau of private records himself, in person—after Updraft had been extracted. There was no use paying the fine for unknown parentage if nobody would be giving out the record anyway.
Carrier's status took precedence, but he couldn't be too careful.
He'd disappeared for months before, though never quite this mysteriously. When Thundercracker's calls went from irritated to anxious, he packed them both to Luna 2 in place on his own presence.
He had been sick, and exhausted, and infuriated. His physician was paid well, to keep her mouth shut and his care exemplary. She had been Vos's primary spark specialist—and for the first month he'd known, she had patiently batted away his requests for termination.
It's too late, Air Commander, sir. They're too big on your spark, so termination will take you with it.
Skywarp and Thundercracker were given no explanation, of course. Eventually they'd stopped asking. When he was free, and called them home, he put up with Skywarp's teasing as he always had, snapping when it cut too close. No different from when they were newly forged, under the same mentor. With the spark off, he would return to work. Things would go back to how they'd always been.
They had not. They never would, and it had been uncharacteristically foolish of Starscream to think otherwise.
He had hired a nurse, of course, to keep the newspark quiet and out of his way. A slightly lower-caste flier than Starscream preferred, but soft spoken and easily cowed. He had successfully kept Updraft of the Vosian Heights fed, clean and watched over. A tiny red frame, that could barely hold its own head up, not quite lost in the arms of his hired help.
The problem was the noise.
Starscream had brushed over information about the carrier bond in the data packets. It simply didn't apply to him, because there was no use in a sparklet until it was old enough to fly. Any offspring of his would be independent, in any case.
He had been wrong, and disgusted by it. Updraft had cried so loudly, so despairingly from down the hall that he had had to investigate. The nurse repeated what Starscream realized doctors had told him—carriers best soothed their offspring. The connection between related sparks was quite strong, and until the little creature could think for themselves they would want that close contact.
"But even so," the infuriating, soft-spoken nurse said, facing the window as Updraft wailed. "They're more fussy than other families I've worked for. Needy."
Starscream had slammed the door, and gone flying.
Eventually, and only after weeks without real rest, he'd agreed to recharge with them. He could no longer stand the anguished, loud cries from the room over. He had thought this would be a chore, of constant crying in his ear for energon and attention. But maybe he'd finally get some sleep.
As it turned out, all Updraft had wanted was to snuggle down against Starscream's chestplates and power down. Even awake they had only stared at him, with the wide red optics that had been Starscream's only relief. Primus help him if they'd come out Iacon blue, or a sallow yellow. Green and purple had been unlikely, but even more horrifying prospects. And you never did know what they'd be.
In any case, it had been a solution, at least overnight. The nurse fed the newspark when he arrived that morning, and Starscream simply stopped working at home. Only now did his spacious offices in Vos and Iacon get real use, and he could put the newspark's wailing behind him. Only when he was home did he take her before recharge, and get his own rest through her warm little presence.
He almost liked them, when they were quiet and still. He could stroke their helm and whisper the same things he had when he carried.
And, to his relief, they'd learned quickly. Toddling along the hallway in first steps, and reaching more often for the affectionate nurse than for Starscream himself. He was told that his offspring's first words were "fast jets" and that they spent hours watching fliers go by.
This pleased Starscream, to the nurse's obvious surprise. He had done the same thing when newly forged, tucked against a window with Skywarp and Thundercracker on either side. He'd just had much less time to wait before spreading his wings. He couldn't imagine being born without them, as Updraft now had.
By upgrade time, Updraft wasn't sleeping with him at all. One day they insisted to their nurse, when playfully asked, that she was a femme and that was that. Normally they didn't think to tell you until after their upgrade. Or so Starscream had read. The processor and vocalizer were ready then, for bigger words and wider-ranging thoughts.
So he commissioned her sparklet body early. Sleek and red—any child of his would be beautiful. While she was in surgery, he dismissed the nurse. She would be able to pour energon for herself now. Work out how to get whatever else she needed. Become self-sufficient, like Starscream himself. He had hated having a stranger in his home, even a gentle one who had never so much as stolen a rust stick. Who looked close to crying when Starscream told him to collect his things, and that no, he couldn't say goodbye.
When she woke up, in her room at home and fresh into a new frame, he had been waiting. He told her all this, and left for a party.
Things would return to how they were. They had, for some time. Several months passed, and cursory checks revealed she was recharging, and taking her energon safely. She wasn't tearing the place apart. Starscream continued enjoying his life, and waiting for her to grow up.
He'd thrown a party, as he always did, and checked on Updraft to ensure she was in her room. Then he'd gotten very drunk, and flirted outrageously with one of the new graduates. At some point his lieutenants had discovered Updraft's presence, and Skywarp had given her a bath. A bath, like a nursemaid. He had put her to bed and told Thundercracker all about it. And Thundercracker, moral and rigid that he was, had let Starscream have it when he was still sleepy and hungover.
They had shamed him—and Starscream would be in the Pit before he admitted that—cleaned his daughter up, and clearly formed a bond. How dare they? How dare they make it so clear that he had failed somewhere? They had no relation to her, though the physicians had clearly suspected one might be the sire.
(He'd heard the medical staff guessing once, when he had supposedly been in recharge. They had been wildly off course each time, to his relief.)
Tutoring her had supposed to be a punishment, while he swept himself off to Kaon early. What he had done there was none of their business, because Thundercracker would get himself into a moral outrage all over again. He hadn't been gone that long, anyway, but when he'd returned he'd found his daughter...attached. Skywarp and Thundercracker had been just as taken with her, taking her on outings and giving her gifts. Even the brothers from Kaon, supposedly among the most dangerous warriors currently online, had spoken sweetly to her and gotten down to her level.
Thundercracker had done his job. Updraft clearly knew more than when Starscream had left, and had plenty to read in the apartment. Intent on getting his subordinates back to work, Starscream had sent them away. And expected things to finally return to how they should be.
And had almost gone crazy, listening to Thundercracker and Skywarp pester him for news of Updraft.
"She racks up my water bill, and uses up my cleaners."
"Good," Skywarp had said, infuriating as ever. He'd started ignoring them. It was easy to ignore Updraft herself.
Too easy. He had been home an hour one night, before he'd realized he hadn't heard her small footsteps in the apartment. When he had searched for her, he'd found an open drawer, and old shanix cards missing.
Halfway out the door, he'd gotten the message from Dreadwing. That he had her—in Lower Vos—and was taking her to a hospital. Her spark was fading.
Starscream hadn't felt in control of himself as he raced off the balcony, transforming as he leaped. Didn't think twice as he told his two lieutenants where to meet him, and why. He'd shrieked at doctors to do their slagging job, and that they would never work in this city again if she died. He'd gone silent when asked how she had gotten so far to begin with. Only Skywarp and Thundercracker had seen the shake in his plating as they waited. But hiding from them had failed time and again. When it came to Updraft, they always seemed to figure it out.
He had finally, finally admitted defeat when he'd seen Updraft in a hospital berth, still and quiet. Admitted to himself that he might not get over it if her spark went out. Worried that, if she lived, that someone would take his heir away from him.
That, Primus forbid, they'd crack open that private record and find her sire. Lower her caste appropriately, and shred her future.
He had begrudgingly allowed others back into his home. Tutoring suited serious, intelligent Thundercracker. Skywarp was almost a child himself, and tired her out with play. His new mercenaries were taken with her, to the point of declaring allegiance to her rather than him. He still paid them for their dirty work, of course, but it was clear where they'd thrown in their lot.
And Starscream adapted. He spoke to her occasionally, during her slow recovery. Came home often enough, and checked long enough to really be sure she was taking her medicine and being educated. Parented, or the closest he would ever get to it. He had finally realized there was no other recourse. No going back.
CRACK!
Updraft shrieked in delight and Thundercracker groaned. In the other doorway, Skywarp appeared, grinning widely and waving in their direction. Updraft had nearly climbed onto the table watching him teleport, her optics wide. "Do it again!"
"No," Thundercracker said, again. "No more, Skywarp. You're distracting her."
Updraft and Skywarp sighed in unison, and Updraft turned back to her history questions as Skywarp teleported back towards the cupboards. Leaning on the doorframe, Skyquake held out a hand, and Skywarp tossed a bag of rust sticks neatly into his grasp. Thundercracker watched Updraft frown in concentration over her work, and wondered where the little femme vibrating to learn had gone. Skywarp had realized that his party trick had a number one fan, and since then none of them had ever heard the end of it.
Another typical afternoon at the biggest penthouse in Vos.
Updraft's recovery had been longer than expected, but bearable, because after the first few days Starscream had drifted towards his duties and parties. He stopped by more often, mostly as an observer, and gave them all fewer reasons to lose their sanity. Thundercracker was satisfied that he was, at least, paying attention to Updraft's existence.
If Skywarp and Thundercracker had to be at Starscream's side, at least one of the Kaonians was posted inside the door. They weren't required to keep her company, but Updraft never seemed unhappy if she had been left with them. She was more wary, but Thundercracker liked that. If they gave her trouble, he trusted her to tell him.
"I thought we'd see you in Iacon," Skywarp said the first day, as they passed the new guard.
Skyquake grinned, crooked. "Trip postponed, apparently."
So they'd put up with each other. It had been...better. Than expected. Longer than expected, too, but Starscream's trips went with his whims.
Thundercracker had stopped worrying about them. They'd proven themselves trustworthy, at least when it came to Updraft's safety. He'd still like to know what, exactly, their job description was outside of "sparklet bodyguard." It certainly wasn't all they did.
The first time Starscream had put both the big mechs up to some mission, Thundercracker and Skywarp had simply taken Updraft home with them. She'd still been weak, still fussing at her medication, but she'd loved their small apartment and Skywarp's enormous vidscreen. She was still asking for another "sleepover," still teasing them about taking a private shuttle, but Thundercracker was content to come to the penthouse for her lessons. It meant he could keep an optic on her behaviour, too—and not let her rack up his energon bills. She had bathed twice at their place.
"You waste," he'd heard Dreadwing telling her one day as he entered, and found Updraft with paint scrubbed right off her shoulders. The realization she could do damage had convinced her to cut down to one bath a day, though they'd hesitated to bother her. He knew Skywarp's spark still twisted when he remembered her dirty face.
Starscream, of course, complained that his place had a revolving door these days. But never in public, where he smiled and preened at people's questions about Updraft.
Yes, she's doing well. Of course her lessons are advanced, she's my daughter. Oh, no, I'm afraid she's still recovering. No visitors.
Thundercracker found himself agreeing, when Starscream growled about nosy senators and useless questions. Not everyone saw through Starscream, and seeing nobles prance away with their latest bit of Updraft gossip made him want to growl, too.
It was better if her outings were limited for now. Her uncles (what Skywarp had taken to calling them all) would take good care of her.
How Thundercracker had let a sparklet take over his life to the degree she had, he couldn't hope to guess. But every afternoon he showed up to see her, with whatever lesson he had decided would be interesting that day. The afternoons most like his pre-Updraft life, where he had to accompany Starscream, he found himself missing her and all her chatter. He even missed her troublemaking.
And now that things had settled down—well. Thundercracker had learned to take deep calming vents sometimes, when she talked back, or filled the washrack to the top of the doorframe with bubbles. Again. And again. Almost every day, some new little game, pushing their limits to see what she could get away with.
It was hard to get her to stop these antics, with Skywarp helping her every step, and the twins standing to the side and letting her "learn from experience." He only seemed to step in if Updraft managed to put her life in danger, entirely possible in a penthouse set thousands of feet off the ground. Starscream had locks installed on the balcony doors after the third time someone found her leaning far over the edge, waving at jets going by.
"If you fall off the balcony you're certainly not going to Iacon," Thundercracker told her after the third incident. The new locks would probably prevent it (unless Skywarp taught her how to pick them, of course), but he noticed she stayed well away after that revelation.
"When are we going to Iacon?" she'd ask someone, every morning. "Soon," was the answer, for much longer than anyone anticipated.. She even started asking Starscream, who seemed surprised she'd bother to talk to him in the first place.
"No," he said, brow raised.. "I decide when. Just be ready."
The others had no answer for her anyway. They didn't know any better than Updraft
Thundercracker worried she'd try getting to Iacon herself, but she seemed to have learned that lesson already. In any case, Updraft didn't have to worry about losing touch with them again. The first thing they'd done when she had recovered was install a little comm unit, the most basic kind for citywide messages. She got their frequencies, and in the evenings Thundercracker and Skywarp often got a cheerful goodnight call. He found himself looking forward to them—though each time he reminded her that the comm was only for emergencies.
One morning, an insistent comm woke him out of his recharge. He groaned, and pushed Skywarp off his chest so he could sit up and answer it. "What?" he asked, only then realizing it was Updraft's frequency and not Starscream's.
"We're leaving today!" Updraft's excited voice said to him. "Starscream says you have to come and help me pack! Come on!"
Thundercracker would have sworn, but remembered in time who he was speaking to. "Is your carrier joking?" he asked weakly, as Skywarp clicked his optics on. "Did he put you up to this? We usually get some warning—"
"Nope!" Updraft said cheerfully. "He decided he wants us to go in time for the new year's festival, not after. So—I have to go. Bye!"
"But I thought we were going before—Updraft?"
The comm clicked off. Thundercracker sighed, and gave Skywarp a shake.
"Hey. Looks like our trip's been moved up. C'mon."
Skywarp groaned, and reached for Thundercracker's arm again. He let Skywarp flop back onto the berth, and headed for the washracks.
When they were finally out the door, Skywarp grumbling all through their flight, and to Starscream's apartment, they found...chaos. Or, the closest one got to chaos from a small sparklet and her carrier.
Starscream was sitting slumped over a small bag, watching as Updraft raced from drawer to drawer, pulling out sweetsticks and books and whatever else she had decided they needed. Skywarp grinned. Thundercracker tried not to laugh out loud.
He ended up giving Starscream a long look, and the great Air Commander of Vos narrowed his optics, slumping further. His wingtips drooped.
"She's feral," Starscream said, and Thundercracker suppressed his grin. Stepping forward, he caught the little red blur by her shoulder. She looked up at him, almost vibrating with excitement.
"Hi!" she said up at him, and Thundercracker allowed himself a smile.
"Good morning," he said. "Are you giving your carrier trouble?"
Starscream bristled next to him, and Thundercracker ignored it. Updraft grinned, shaking her head. "I'm just excited!"
"I know." Thundercracker let her race off again. "Two cleaning cloths, your good polish, and a few books you'd like to read on the way. One package of sweetsticks—yes, one," he said, as her face fell. "Starscream has a place in Iacon. That's all you need."
She needn't have been disappointed at the lack of candy, either, since Thundercracker could see Skywarp stuffing a bag with as many sweetsticks as he could carry. "I'm helping!" he said, upon Thundercracker's accusatory look.
"Where are your guards?" he asked Starscream. There was still a smile twitching at his lips. "You didn't call them to corral your feral little beast?"
"They're meeting us in Iacon," Starscream said, shifting uncomfortably. "They had...work. So I was stuck with her."
Work Starscream had given them, and only had himself to blame for. Thundercracker folded his arms. "Why didn't you just...tell her what to pack?"
Starscream threw up his hands. "She was excited! And if I tell her what to do, you'll get angry at me, for mistreating her or whatever it is you say I do!"
Thundercracker decided to ignore him completely from that point on, and stepped away, finding Updraft sticking as many polish containers as she could into her back. Thundercracker pulled all but the best one out, before bringing her hands back and neatly closing the bag.
"We're going soon," he said. Right away she brightened, and it was so good to see Updraft as she should be, full of energy and excitement. He'd take an excited troublemaker over sick and fussy any day. "So listen carefully for when Starscream tells you to get going, okay?"
Updraft frowned. "Won't you tell me?"
Thundercracker handed her the bag and stood up, stretching his wings. "I can, but sometimes you'll have to listen to him too. Just like how Skywarp and I have to listen to him sometimes."
Updraft reached for his hand as they left the washrack, and he took it with only a little hesitation. Physical affection was more Skywarp's gig...but it was nice. Her little hand squeezing his, and her steps jogging to catch up to his longer ones.
"Why do you listen to Starscream?" she asked, in the doorway of the main room. The mech in question was checking the locks on his balcony, and Skywarp had devolved to just eating the sweetsticks. Thundercracker raised a brow at Updraft, reaching out and taking the bag from Skywarp.
"We were forged from the same hot spot," Thundercracker said in a low voice. "So we've...always been together. Even if it's..."
"Hard?" Updraft supplied. He sighed.
"Yes. Let's talk about it later," he said, watching Starscream approach them. Updraft was quick to let go of Thundercracker's hand and stand something to attention, but her carrier said nothing. He straightened up, flicking his wings like there was someone to preen for.
"The shuttle's waiting," he said to them, thrusting his own small bag out to Skywarp. "It's a long flight, and I'm not turning around."
"You're not gonna fly?" Updraft asked. Starscream stared in disbelief, and Thundercracker hated the way she shrank back.
"I thought they'd taught you geography," Starscream said, sweeping past them towards the door. "Iacon is in another hemisphere. You'd fall out of the sky trying to reach it alone."
Updraft frowned at her little bag, clearly thinking hard on this. Thundercracker wondered how far she'd dreamed of flying.
By the time they reached the private shuttle, big and lavish, Updraft was on Skywarp's shoulders and full of questions again.
"I thought you wouldn't be caught dead in a shuttle," she said to Thundercracker, as they were ushered aboard and she was dropped into a seat. She said this every time they took one together, and it didn't seem to get old. He could already tell from the way her optics glittered, that this would be a long eight hours.
"I took one with you from the hospital, didn't I?"
"But before that!" Updraft said, leaning insistently on his knee.
Thundercracker leaned back and shut off his optics. "I hate city shuttles. It's different going to other states."
"Like Starscream said? You'd fall out of the sky?"
A loud purple CRACK in the air announced Skywarp's presence, and Thundercracker didn't answer. Updraft laughed so loudly that Starscream poked his head in from the adjacent section. He looked daggers at his daughter, who shrank back. Skywarp relaxed, grinning and turning her towards his seats.
"Let's play a game on your datapad. Looks like a certain couple of someones need a nap."
Starscream shut the door in disgust, and Thundercracker tried to tune them out. The children might as well play the trip away, and he'd catch up on his recharge.
It was a long eight hours.
By the time they passed over the acid wastes, Updraft was missing the filth and crime of Lower Vos. At least it was something. No matter how colourful the sunsets here supposedly were, it got dark early this time of year and they'd missed it. She lay upside down in her seat, helm barely skirting the ground and arms splayed. She could tell Starscream was bored too, because he'd taken to pacing between the two shuttle sections, occasionally barking at the pilot for an update.
Updraft had thought he'd know where they were. He left on his trips all the time.
Even Skywarp's teleports had gotten old, though not to him—at one point, he'd miscalculated and landed just outside the shuttle. Updraft had heard his squawk of indignation of he'd fallen through the air, and it had been a few minutes before a black and purple jet had caught up and calmed her nerves. She had burst into tears when Starscream told her that, no, they wouldn't be turning around for "his stupid aft."
"Watch your language," Thundercracker snapped, and Updraft spent some time snuggled sulkily against him, assured Skywarp was fine, and had done this multiple times.
It was a relief for all of them when the pilot announced Iacon. No matter what Thundercracker claimed, not even he was a patient creature, and this was wearing them all down. Skywarp had sat in every possible position the past half hour, and Starscream had scuffed the floor with his heels from pacing the aisle. Even Thundercracker was kicking his feet idly against the seat ahead, books forgotten. Updraft had tried to nap, and failed.
Suddenly Iacon was bright below them. When it occurred to Updraft they were finally here, she raced over Skywarp's knees to get to the biggest window. Her optics went wide, her faceplate pressed against the glass.
Where Vos shone, Iacon glittered. Updraft didn't even mind that they were near the ground, because every highway was lit up with colour. She watched mechs speed past below them, ones of all shapes and colours. On the walkways she could see even more, and her vents hitched in excitement. Wings were the most beautiful, and fliers flashed past them too, but the variety was exciting. The colours were gaudy, not the muted, fashionable palettes Vosians preferred.
Updraft decided right away: she loved it.
They landed high up, to her delight. The buildings they landed between stretched towards the sky, higher than the others and closer to the clouds Updraft knew. They shimmered white, with wide windows that showed airy rooms.
But most amazing were the lanterns.
At least a half dozen hung from every balcony, of all colours. Most had many more. Glyphs in Neocybex and the Primal Vernacular were handwritten on most of them. They swayed gently as the shuttle touched down, the coloured light hitting the walls in all directions. Updraft caught the optic of a mech stringing out a green lantern, and he grinned at her. His face was almost alien, caught in the coloured light as it was.
"Where are we, Updraft?" Thundercracker asked her, as he reached down to hand her her bag. Updraft was about to open her mouth, to say Iacon, of course, but realized in time that this was a lesson. Starscream's optics were sharp on her as she said, "The Spires. The high-caste district of this city."
Thundercracker smiled, as Starscream gave her a curt nod and stepped off the shuttle. "Good girl. Tomorrow, we'll go over a little history."
Updraft wasn't listening. Outside, in the cold night air, the lanterns were even brighter.
Someone picked her up, and she squeaked in surprise. She hadn't realized until she was in Skywarp's arms that she'd been staring from the shuttle ramp.
"They know how to party in Iacon," he said. He gave her a mischievous look. "Wait till you see what they do when the year changes over."
Updraft wriggled, already anticipating. She wasn't sure what could be more beautiful than this.
Starscream frowned. "It's gaudy."
"I like it," Updraft said. When he turned away in annoyance, she stuck her tongue out at the backs of his wings and earned a black look from Thundercracker.
Skywarp carried her up to the apartment, and it was only crossing the threshold that Updraft realized how tired she was. She wasn't sure why, when she'd done nothing all day. "It's small," she said into his shoulder. Starscream made another annoyed sound, tapping the counter idly.
"It's not cheap leasing in this city," he said. "Thundercracker. Skywarp. Where is Updraft going to recharge?"
Skywarp looked up, but Updraft's optics were dimming. Skywarp shifted her more comfortably and she fought not to recharge.
"I forgot there's only the two rooms," Thundercracker said.
"Well, she'll need a place!" Starscream said, and Updraft knew he must he throwing his hands up. "The guards have a barrack on another floor, the spare room is yours—Primus knows why I don't make you rent elsewhere-"
"There's a pullout berth," Thundercracker said, interrupting before this got more ridiculous. "Just put her here, Skywarp. It's too small for us."
Starscream made an annoyed sound, but Updraft noticed he didn't protest as Skywarp put her down. He didn't offer to take it himself, but Updraft hadn't expected him to.
It didn't matter. It was comfortable enough, and Updraft drifted off with the lights of Iacon on her face, and her guardians speaking softly.
When she woke, it was well past morning, and Updraft was happy to stay where she was. Someone had put her new thermoblanket on her, something she'd grown to love sleeping with since her hospital visit. It was patterned with coloured jets, the same alt as Starscream and his trine. She sat up. Only now, looking off their wide balcony, did she see that Starscream's apartment had no beautiful lanterns.
She found herself alone, which made her spark sink. If nobody could be with her, one of the twins was supposed to be, but maybe they were late from their work. Maybe they had decided Updraft would sleep so long, she wouldn't notice being alone.
Well, she had. She'd tell Skywarp and Thundercracker how unhappy it made her, too. She got up, got her energon, and found that she had no access to this apartment's comm unit. Her pings to the others found no answer.
But she could get into the washrack, and, amazingly, she could reach these taps without a stool. Not as many settings as home, but she could clean up and polish the way she liked. When she was done, she did feel better. This was Iacon, and maybe in Iacon she wouldn't mind being alone.
They'd forgotten to lock the balcony, so she took her bag of sweetsticks outside, to sit against the clear barrier and see what people had put up. Maybe they would let her come out at night to see them all lit up, too. Some places only put up one colour of lantern, but others stuck as many different ones as could fit. Some people only put out one or two, but everyone's apartment except theirs had something. Updraft would ask Skywarp if they could put some out together. It sounded like something he'd like to do.
She was about to go back in when she saw a little bot, on the balcony next to theirs. Updraft looked at him in surprise, though she had seen smaller mechs before. She'd just never seen one with those proportions. They were a shiny white and grey, with red pieces on his helm. Wide blue optics, no alt mode indicators...
They looked like her. Updraft stood up to get a better look at the first other sparklet she'd ever seen.
They were looking out too, peering up over the barrier to get the best look at the lanterns. Eventually they turned, and those bright blue optics focused in on Updraft. They got wide, and the sparklet leaned over. After a worried look behind her, she got on her tiptoes to meet his gaze.
"Who are you?" they called, and grinned. Updraft guessed a boy from the voice. "My sire said that apartment's for an important Vosian. Are you from Vos?"
Updraft was suddenly shy. She'd never spoken to someone her age, only to the adults who now knew her. Maybe they weren't even her age—maybe they were close to upgrade and would think she was just a newspark. Thundercracker said she was progressing fast, but maybe it wouldn't matter.
Well, she had to try.
"Yes!" she called over. "I'm Updraft. My carrier's the Air Commander."
"That's cool," said the sparklet. "Mine's a racer. My sire's an architect." He grinned widely, and Updraft relaxed. "Where are your lanterns?"
He had an accent, the same one as the newscasters and officials on the news. "We don't have any," she said. "We just came from Vos yesterday."
"You're right next door, you know," he said. For a split second he seemed to think hard, before looking up at her again. "Hold on!" he called, and he turned to rush inside.
Updraft was confused for a moment, but a knock on their door answered her question. She had to cross the apartment to answer it, and wondered how much trouble she'd be in if Starscream chose to walk up right then. But it was only the sparklet, and she relaxed, stepping aside so he could come in.
"You speak funny," he said, and she bristled. "I know Vosians are weird, but that's a really weird accent. Did you know?"
"Yours is weird," she retorted, her hands on her hips. "I speak perfectly well!" She'd gotten used to speaking Standard, with Dreadwing and Skyquake around, but to the others she only spoke their Vosian dialect. Thundercracker said the accent faded if you switched too much, as Starscream's had, and Updraft didn't want that.
"I guess you do," the sparklet said. "'Cause I understand you and all. It doesn't matter." He held out his hand in front of them. "I'm Smokescreen. I'm gonna get in big trouble if my parents get home right now."
Updraft relaxed again. She knew how mischief looked, after all that time with Skywarp. Smokescreen had it in his optics too. She took his hand, and shook it. "Me too," she said. "Someone was supposed to be home with me, but I guess they're late."
"My nurse is here," Smokescreen said, "but he's asleep. I've been so bored because the Prime closed the schools. No one fun lives in this building. Where's your nurse?"
Smokescreen talked a lot, and didn't think much about his words. Updraft liked it.
"I don't have one," Updraft said, carefully placing her sweetstick bag back, before Thundercracker saw it half-eaten already. She no longer missed her nurse, with so many mechs around to spend time with her. Smokescreen looked impressed. Updraft finally remembered to get behind him and shut the door.
"You're lucky," he said. "Mine's so dull. I have to spend, like, all my time with him now, 'cause some dummies might bomb the schools."
"I don't go to school," Updraft said. "My carrier's lieutenant tutors me." She wondered if there was even such a thing in Vos for sparklets. If there were, Starscream probably wouldn't send her. Smokescreen looked even more impressed, and Updraft straightened up in pleasure. Maybe she was on more even footing than she'd guessed.
"Do you want to play Polyhex checkers?" Smokescreen asked her, pointing at the game pad on the couch's arm. "I probably have an hour before I have to go home."
"Me too," Updraft lied. She actually had no idea when someone would come through the door. Probably Dreadwing and Skyquake, who had gone from late to very late, and would be in trouble too.
She took down the pad and set up the game. At first they played with focus, but soon Smokescreen had said something funny. Then Updraft had, and they were giggling at each other more than at the board.
After the second round, Smokescreen jumped up, hands on his hips. "I'm bored," he announced. "Let's play hide and seek."
Updraft was about to call him bossy, and stand up to suggest tag, or something else, but she was otherwise interrupted.
"Updraft," said Dreadwing's voice, low and calm.
Updraft turned slowly, at the same time as Smokescreen, to see that the twins had finally arrived. Some timing! Skyquake's lips twitched, of course, in a barely suppressed grin, but Dreadwing looked stony as he regarded them.
"You're really late," she said to them, and Skyquake turned away, striding towards the balcony doors. His shoulders were already shaking from laughter. Updraft had really started to bristle at that these days (what was so funny about her?) but Dreadwing stood firm, raising a brow.
"Did you get permission to bring in guests?" he asked her, turning his gaze onto Smokescreen. Updraft shrank back a fraction, but couldn't find any real disapproval in Dreadwing's optics.
"No," she said, sparing a glance at Smokescreen. "I couldn't get a hold of my carrier. Or the others." He had frozen at the sight of the two big mechs, one of them staring him down firmly. "Should Smokescreen go home, Dreadwing?"
"I think so," Dreadwing said, and Smokescreen swallowed hard. Updraft had never really thought about how it frightening his name was. She wondered where he'd gotten it.
"I guess I'd better go, then!" Smokescreen said quickly, turning towards the door. He paused as it slid open, and Dreadwing's face finally betrayed some amusement as he straightened up. "I'll see you at the party tonight, right? It's downstairs."
"Yes," Updraft lied, wondering if one of her guards would correct her. They didn't, and Smokescreen flashed that mischievous smile, shutting the door behind him.
Now both pairs of optics were on her. She sighed.
"Don't tell."
"Relax, little one," Skyquake said. He was still barely containing his grin. "It's your lie. Nobody's selling you out to Starscream."
That didn't make her feel any better, and neither did turning to Dreadwing. She was still more wary of Skyquake, but Dreadwing could manage more dead seriousness than Thundercracker.
"How did you meet that boy?" Dreadwing asked her.
"I saw him through the back door," Updraft said, just in time avoiding saying where she'd been. From the look of Dreadwing's face, he was skeptical. "When he saw me he came over, and I let him in. We were just playing. Where were you?"
Dreadwing's optics twinkled at her, and he turned towards the energon tap. "Working for your carrier, of course."
"What do you do for Starscream?" She had asked Thundercracker and Skywarp what her guards did, multiple times. The word "mercenary" didn't mean much to her, and she suspected they didn't know any better than she did.
"Nothing appropriate for little audials," Skyquake said. Now that was interesting, but Updraft, try as she might, couldn't get any more out of them. When they got sick of her spinning on the barstools at the counter, Dreadwing took a blank datapad and told her a story with a simple drawing. Each stroke added to the story, until on the datapad was a simple picture of a turbofox. She spent of her time alone with them quiet, drawing the turbofox that same way over and over. She resolved to show Smokescreen, if she saw him again.
"Don't tell your guardians he showed you that," Skyquake said, surprising her. "Kaon nonsense. We learned it when we were newly forged."
"Perfectly harmless nonsense," Dreadwing said. "Less harmful than the nonsense Starscream sends us off on."
Skyquake raised a brow, and to Updraft's annoyance there was no mention of nonsense for the rest of the day. She would find out, one way or another, what the twins had been hired for. She knew why they had stayed (well, she knew why Dreadwing had stayed, as Skyquake still seemed just along for the ride), but what else they did was an annoying mystery.
They didn't mention a thing when the others returned that evening, to Updraft's relief. Misgivings or not, she was safe with them. They left as the others came through, presumably to their own lodgings, and with minimal chewing out from Starscream. He was strutting, so his mood was good. Updraft relaxed.
"The thingy tonight," Skywarp said, cocking his head towards Updraft. "The big thing. Who's staying with her?"
Updraft frowned. "Can't I come?" she asked, running around to Skywarp's other side. "I'll be really good. I won't complain at all."
"You certainly won't," Starscream said, stretching in front of a mirror. "Mm. I need another polish. Supposedly Nominus and his entourage will be there."
Updraft slouched, and she was surprised at herself. She'd seen how Starscream's house parties went, and they were vile. Thrown up energon on the floor and strangers in the living room. But if Smokescreen might be there, that would be exciting. Even a loudmouth, bossy sparklet was still another sparklet. She'd liked playing with him.
"Why not, boss?" Skywarp said. They all looked up, Updraft suddenly straight-backed and hopeful as he went on. "It's not like...well, a Vos party. It's a gala. And there's nothing out of place, nothing broken on the balcony...looks like she behaved."
Updraft's poker face was so good that not even Thundercracker seemed suspicious. He nodded, slowly, and Updraft's hope rose.
"I would think you'd want to keep babysitting and your professional life separate," Starscream said, looking disdainfully at the leading edge of his wings. "Don't expect me to look out for her. And I'm not bringing those Kaonians down to be gawked at."
"So I can go?" Updraft said, excitement curling in her spark.
Starscream sighed, like doing this caused him real pain. "You had better be ready when we're going back down."
Updraft almost cheered, but Thundercracker's knowing hand on her neck stilled her. She grinned up at him instead, and was pleased when she pulled a rare smile out of him.
"Keep being good and you can help us get ready," he said, and Updraft grinned, following him and Skywarp to the washracks.
She was eager to see what an important party was like, especially when she realized all three of them were polishing to Starscream's level. Updraft had peeked in on his room once or twice, before he left for somewhere, and he always took great care to be beautiful. Skywarp and Thundercracker obviously saved their good polish for special occasions. She resisted the urge to fill the small washrack up with bubbles, even with four of them were trying to polish without elbowing arms and wings, and the temptation to make Skywarp laugh out loud with her boldness. Starscream grumbled as they worked, but no one was ordered out. So far, so good, and Updraft wouldn't chance it.
"There'll be a party every night until the new year," Thundercracker told her, as he wiped wax off his leg. "If you're good, we'll take you to the last one. When the year rolls over."
"But every night's too crazy for us, too," Skywarp said from the rack's other side. His purple and black plating was its truest shade now, brilliantly shone. Updraft could see her face in his lowest wing. "You won't be alone again."
There were a number of rules to go over, ones Updraft was already mulling over ways to break. Don't stuff your face with all the energon sweets, because you'll make your systems back up. Be polite when people address you—they'll be interested in Starscream's sparklet. Don't leave Skywarp's sight.
When they were done, the washracks dry, Updraft chose to follow Skywarp and Thundercracker to their room. It wouldn't be any fun to be in a room alone with Starscream, and they were both shining brighter than she'd ever seen them.
She sat on their berth and watched them take turns smoothing out wing edges, painting over details that needed touching up. They worked in a quiet tandem, talking in low, companionable voices. This seemed to be what being a conjux was about—partnership and company. Getting along. It must be why they could be together but Starscream stood apart. He didn't get along with anyone.
Skywarp especially seemed unusually calm, and Updraft was almost worried until he winked one optic at her.
"I'm saving my energy," he told her. "I need to do my tricks for old Nominus himself."
"You will not," Thundercracker said without looking up. He had always turned up his nose at Starscream's preening and vanity, and warned Updraft more than once there were better qualities to focus on. But she could see his care as he checked that his fingers were still filed sharp, and that the grooves in his faceplate were handsome and undented.
"You look perfect," Updraft said to him, and earned her second rare smile of the day.
The last step was done with the utmost care. A Vosian's wings was their most important asset, and great care was taken to keep them flying well. This was a superstition, really, Thundercracker had told her. But it was clearly one he followed, carefully writing the white glyphs where Skywarp's wings met his back. They'd come off in the washrack, but not a moment sooner. It would show even more firmly where they had come from, and why they flew best.
Updraft leaned over to see them. They were old style script and hard to read, but she could make out something about flying straight and true, and love. Love of the sky, but probably also the kind of love Thundercracker had for Skywarp and never admitted out loud. She wished she could read them all, but Thundercracker was done before she could see, and Skywarp was turning away to draw Thundercracker's.
No one would see them very well at the party, unless they got down to eye level with wing bases and could read true Vosian script. The important part didn't seem to be displaying them.
She wondered if Skywarp had written something silly on Thundercracker's wings, but the glyph's recipient seemed relaxed, and Skywarp frowned in real concentration. Maybe they'd let her try and read them before the night was out.
They were both doing a last once over, Skywarp stretching in front of a mirror, when Starscream strode in. He turned his back on them both, and Updraft took in how carefully he had brushed up on his details, the red finial on his forehead brightly repainted. He really was beautiful. "My wings," he said.
Thundercracker took the pen and carefully wrote something on Starscream, just as slowly as he had with Skywarp. Updraft ached to turn and read it, but her carrier was facing her and she had to sit at attention.
"Can I have glyphs?" she asked finally, as they were readying to go. Suddenly three pairs of optics were on her, and she regretted asking. Thundercracker relaxed first, shaking his head.
"When you're grown up," he said. "It's one of those things you'll have to wait on."
"One day you'll have wings yourself," Starscream added, surprising her. "Before your first flight, I'll write your first verse."
Updraft stopped herself from saying she'd rather have Thundercracker or Skywarp do it. But maybe this was the right way, if you had a carrier to do it for you. Updraft reached for Skywarp's hand, a bit hesitant after all the time they'd just spent making themselves beautiful. But he grinned at her just as easily as ever, and took her small hand in his. Same old Skywarp, under all that primp and polish. Thundercracker was holding his wings up more proudly than she'd ever seen, and Starscream walked with purpose. The annoyance that usually accompanied her presence with him was gone.
She loved Iacon.