Oh, man, this is a long one! But it's important, so I guess that's just how it goes. A lot more OC-related stuff in this chapter, not just Updraft, but I really hope you guys enjoy it (because I THOROUGHLY enjoy writing this self-indulgent robots-as-parents nonsense). Really happy I could get this up before my semester starts next week. Always happy to get reviews and feedback, please feel free to do so!
Updraft had grown up in the biggest, brightest penthouse Vos had to offer. At least, that was what she'd been told, and if there was one with better furniture or bigger windows than Starscream's, she wouldn't be seeing it. Nothing about waking up thousands of feet off the ground disturbed her—it was all she knew, and these days there was no way for her to fall. Being able to see the ground, the real surface of Cybertron, outside the window, would take some getting used to.
Uppercut had showed her towards the best chair in the sitting room, before rushing through a doorway and reappearing with fuel. The ceiling was low and flat, enough that Breakdown would bump his head if he chose to jump. He set a pile of datapads aside and watched her, his face daring Updraft to say something about his home. She sat, back straight, and tried not to be disappointed in his suspicion. She would not let this mech think any less of her.
"So it's not going well, if he'll be home this early," Uppercut said. Breakdown shrugged. His arms were folded, watching Uppercut set the cube down in front of Updraft.
"I didn't like this guy anyway," Breakdown said. "Too stuck up. Knock Out won't like him either."
Updraft ached to ask "like who," but she was a guest. She imagined Thundercracker shaking his head at her, and it kept her posture good.
"Well," Uppercut said, "he liked him enough to take him to dinner."
They both seemed unconcerned by her confusion—surely Breakdown wasn't lying, or joking about being Knock Out's conjunx endura? She tried to imagine Skywarp or Thundercracker seeing anyone else but each other, and couldn't, and Starscream had never seen a mech for more than a week or two. Breakdown glanced her way, and Updraft made an effort to look unconcerned.
"Have you got a name, kid?" he asked her. One brow was raised, and Updraft could tell he was a bit like the twins—he had no trouble being intimidating.
"It's Updraft," she said. Uppercut grinned, and Breakdown huffed.
"That's Vosian, alright," he said. He jerked one thumb towards the next room. "I've got dishes to do before your sire gets home," he said to Uppercut. "Keep your guest company."
Updraft knew her wings dipped in relief, and tried, unsuccessfully, to keep them under control.
"We have the same first glyph in our names," Uppercut said in perfect Vosian. She smiled at the look on Updraft's face. "My sire speaks it to my brother and I. He always said it'd bowl that city over to see wheeled bots use their words."
"It would," Updraft agreed, still in Vosian, and Uppercut's smile became a grin. She didn't comment on there being a brother as well—sparklets in this sort of caste were rare enough, but two?
In the next room, they could hear the loud clattering of cubes and plates being put away, and guessed Breakdown could hear everything being said. Gingerly, Uppercut took the seat across from Updraft—and knocked a datapad right onto the floor as she moved past the table.
"Sorry," Uppercut said quickly, reaching to pick it up. Updraft saw that friendly veneer split, for just a moment, as Uppercut's optics got wide and nervy. "Sorry. I'm pretty new into my full frame, it's hard to keep my balance sometimes."
That, Updraft could relate to. "I've been knocking doorways with my wings for weeks," she said. "My tutor says it'll pass, but it's hard to get the dents out."
"I should have guessed," Uppercut said. "It's not that hard to tell, once you know the signs." Updraft must have given her an odd look, because Uppercut started speaking again quickly. "When you live in a mod shop, you notice stuff like that. I hope I'm not being rude."
"You're not," Updraft said. "Really. You've been really nice. Most people in Rodion have been nice."
Uppercut grinned. "That's because you haven't been out at night, but—yeah. In this neighbourhood we look out for each other."
There was something Updraft ached to ask, but the question's rudeness kept it silent. She remembered Skywarp's laughter, a long time ago, when she had asked how the lower castes looked after their sparklets. If these people had applied, they would have either been laughed out of the office or kept on the waiting list until a new Prime was named, and everything was reshuffled. Maybe if she stuck this out, she would find out how Knock Out had gotten rid of his wings, and sparked two children.
Children who were Updraft's brother and sister, she realized with a jolt. Starscream would have popped an energon line.
They all looked up abruptly, at the sound of the little bell on the shop's door. Updraft's spark hitched, because (as Breakdown had so helpfully explained) the shop was closed. This would be it.
The person to first peer around the doorframe definitely wasn't Knock Out. Updraft was taken aback—the mech was huge. Bigger than Breakdown, and right away Updraft braced herself. His shoulders were broad enough to almost get him stuck in the door, but his wings were what really made him have to turn on his side. Wide, long, and dipped low shyly. Certainly not Vosian, if he walked around with his wingtips trailing the floor.
Uppercut jumped up, looking delighted. "You're home late."
The mech rubbed the back of his neck. As soon as he'd seen Updraft his smile had turned shy, and she wondered what such a big, impressive mech would be shy about when she wasn't even half his size.
"I took an extra shift," he said. He tilted his head Updraft's way. "Who's this?"
"A stray your sister brought in," Breakdown said, appearing from behind the kitchen wall. "She's looking for your carrier."
Uppercut's brother had had one heck of an upgrade. Knock Out couldn't be that tall, not from the Vosian Heights, and she had seen his picture. When he looked her way, she straightened up. Better not to look like she'd been staring. Updraft held out her hand.
"Updraft," she said, smiling at him. She hoped she looked relaxed. "Good to meet you."
She held out her hand, and watched the big mech tentatively take it and shake, extremely gently. It was comical, but it was surely out of necessity, considering his hands dwarfed her own.
"I'm Windjammer. Uppercut's not usually one for taking in strays," he said. A glance at his sister received a shrug in return. "You won't have long to wait for my carrier—he's just in the shop."
Updraft swallowed hard. When she had envisioned meeting Knock Out, it had been alone—probably in his waiting room, or workshop. Not while intruding on his big happy family, obviously so protective of him.
Uppercut might have liked her, but these people were still strangers. They might not take kindly to her reveal.
She jumped at a muffled thump from the shop—then jumped again, at the press of a big hand over hers. She fought the sudden, nervous urge to pull it back.
"Spark's sake," a muffled voice said. Updraft's spark hitched, but Uppercut smiled.
"He's carrying stuff that's too heavy again," she said, standing up. "Dad! Your sparklets are better equipped!"
Breakdown was looking at her, so Updraft didn't lean forward in an effort to get a better look. She waited, hands folded in her lap as if she was the picture of calm.
Windjammer was watching her with interest, as Updraft tried to strain her audials and hear what Uppercut was saying.
"Are you Vosian?" Windjammer asked suddenly. Breakdown raised a brow at him, but his optics were trained back on Updraft quickly.
"I am, yeah," she said, in the dialect. "I traveled to Rodion to see Knock Out."
"It's fine," Breakdown said. Updraft looked up in surprise. "She couldn't get to him if she wanted. And your sister likes her."
Windjammer's bright yellow optics had narrowed in suspicion. Updraft resisted the urge to sink smaller in her seat. Uppercut picked the right time to turn the corner, a large metal box balanced easily in one arm.
"…seriously, just ask one of us to come get it," Uppercut was saying. "New buffers aren't worth you cracking your struts."
"You all work too hard!"
Updraft leaned forward in spite of herself, because this would be her first good look at her sire. This mech had given her life, probably had no clue about it, and now she would meet him.
"Breakdown and your brother take far too many shifts, and you're not quite settled in that upgrade. And your finish is chipped, sweet spot." His hand was on Uppercut's shoulder, his plating bright red and perfectly polished. Updraft had to admire his skill.
He looked like his picture, at least. No surprises there, but she'd expected someone...taller. Starscream liked those—but maybe it was just all these big mechs, dwarfing him.
"How was your date?" Windjammer asked. His optics, a moment ago suspicious, were bright with mischief. Updraft's went wide as she glanced at Breakdown, who looked entirely unaffected.
"Long," Knock Out said. He dropped a small bag on the nearest table as he strode in. "Atrocious manners when he ate. Won't be seeing him again."
His optics fell on Updraft. This time, she really did shrink down.
Knock Out slowed, then paused. His optics went almost white in their brightness before they narrowed at her. Those optics were intelligent, and she could feel them raking her up and down.
"Uppercut," he said, carefully. "You said you brought a guest in, not a Vosian."
The disdain for his city—their city—was palpable. Her one consolation was that Uppercut looked as distressed as she felt.
"She's nice!" she said. She gestured to Updraft. "I wouldn't have let her in if I thought—"
"Oh, yes you would have," Knock Out said, giving Breakdown what Updraft knew was a meaningful look between conjunx. "I won't have the Heights thinking I raised sparklets without hospitality. Now, then. Little Vosian, what's brought you to Rodion?"
A shameful instinct wanted her to stand up and scold this mech, who had so rudely made his opinion known. How could he assume she was here to give him trouble, hospitality or not? Just because she was high-caste and he was low—
—and Dreadwing would be ashamed if he knew he'd helped her get this far, only for her to act like her carrier. Instead, she took a deep vent in.
"I'm Updraft," she said, holding out her hand. In Standard, suddenly acutely aware of her accent. "It's nice to meet you. I have…something important to talk to you about."
Knock Out hesitated for a few seconds too long. Updraft counted the steps to the door, if she ran them.
"I suppose it must be important, then, if you came all this way." Knock Out stepped back, before finally taking a seat next to Breakdown. "I'm sure you've noticed why Vosians stopped bothering with me."
She wondered, idly, if it had bothered Knock Out when his son had taken a flying alt. Uppercut dropped down next to her, her face expectant, and Updraft took another deep vent in.
"Before I start, I hope you listen all the way through," she said. Knock Out was already opening his mouth, so Updraft continued quickly. "I'm really sorry about appearing like this, and intruding. It's…obvious why you left Vos. I didn't mean to scare you."
Knock Out reached out absently, spinning one of his wheels. "It's not so much fear," he said. "I put all that behind me. I'm simply protecting my family." He smiled slightly. "You're clearly young. I'm sure we can handle you."
Updraft bristled at the notion that she was young and therefore harmless—she kept it together. She should have rehearsed what she would say.
"Alright," she said. There were four expectant, strange pairs of optics on her, and she tried pretending they were just Vosian senators, that she had to speak to at a party and pretend to be interested in. "Well, recently...I had my upgrade. I only got access to my private records then, and there were some questions about myself that needed answering…"
Uppercut's optics were glued to her, leaning forward in her chair seemingly without realizing. Knock Out's face was locked on hers, too, a sudden intensity there that was almost unsettling.
"Anyway," she said quickly. "I might as well get right to it. I think you're my sire?"
Massive, deafening silence. Breakdown's brows shot up as he watched her, and Updraft knew her wingtips must be quivering.
She was preparing to be the reason for this family's fracture, when Uppercut tilted her head, optics narrowed.
"I thought you were careful on your dates, Dad," she said.
Knock Out's optics were wide and bright. His hands gripping the armrests of the chair.
"I—well, if my partner isn't taking the same care-" he sputtered at first. Updraft watched him pause, take a deep vent in, and continue staring.
Updraft had thought, after their rough start, that Breakdown would have gotten upset. Maybe had an outburst, his voice filling the room. In fact, he looked more like the night had just gotten more interesting.
"I have the documents," Updraft said quickly, pulling the datapad from her small bag. "In Vos you get in trouble for not putting in a sire, so—"
"Yes, I'm aware," Knock Out said quickly. "I was sparked there myself." Already his hands were outstretched for the record, and Updraft handed it over. He clutched it, staring hard at those neatly written names. His optics narrowed. Then they went wide.
"Oh," he said, very softly. "Oh, Primus, yes, I remember. Starscream."
"Starscream?" Breakdown said. His brows were still raised high. "That stiletto-heeled piece you saw?"
"The very same," Knock Out said grimly. Updraft's spark hut Uppercut and Windjammer were both starting to look like they had been shellshocked, and she couldn't say she blamed them.
"I'm sorry," she started, but Knock Out raised his hand. He was still staring at the datapad.
"If this is true, don't get all upset. It's certainly not your fault," he said. Whatever she had expected him to say, it hadn't been that. "He's still Air Commander?"
"Yeah," Updraft said. She tried to keep the wobble out of her voice. "As long as I can remember."
"You didn't tell me that piece was an Air Commander," Breakdown said. Only now did he sound starn.
"The Air Commander," Updraft said. "Only the Elite Guard one outranks him."
Breakdown huffed. "Whoop-dy doo."
Windjammer leaned forward, looking more thoughtful now than anything. "Does that have the Functionist Holoseal?"
The rest of them stared for a moment, before Knock Out actually glanced at the page again.
"Right there in the corner," he said. "All sparked mechs have it in the same place."
Windjammer nodded, sitting back. "Good. That means it's not fake."
"I would have gone to an awful lot of trouble just to lie to you," Updraft said, optics flicking on brighter.
"Well, if your carrier is who he is, he could have sent you to take advantage of us," Breakdown said.
Updraft bristled. "He doesn't even know I checked my records, let alone that I'm here."
She almost jumped at the hand on her shoulder, only to remember that Uppercut was still next to her. Updraft had the ridiculous urge to lean into her, the way she would have for comfort from Dreadwing or Skywarp.
"I believe her," Uppercut said firmly. "I don't see why she'd lie. It's not like they can hurt us now."
Now was not the time to question that, either, but Updraft wondered all the same. She watched Uppercut's face darken in concentration—before it brightened, immediately, and she had rushed away.
"Hang on!" she said. "Just hang on. I'll prove she's my sister."
She rushed out of the room, almost knocking a table over in her enthusiasm. There was the sound of her rummaging through things in the shop, before she returned, a pricey looking device in her hand.
Right away Knock Out had stood. "That's expensive equipment you're fooling with," he snapped. "It's for the clients."
"I know how to use it," Uppercut said. Before Updraft's optics could flicker, she had flipped the device's switch and notched Knock Out's arm.
He yelped in a very undignified way, clutching at the offending spot as Uppercut moved away. She grinned at Updraft's face, and just as quickly taken a tiny, stinging core from Updraft's arm. She squeaked, already thinking about the time it would take to weld over and buff out her finish again.
"CNA checker," Uppercut said, stepping back. "Usually we use it to make sure someone won't reject their new part."
Updraft rubbed her arm, frowning. "Can you really get that from just the frame?"
"Of course," Knock Out said. He leaned forward, trying to get a good look at the device's small screen. "It radiates out from the spark into the rest of you."
"If you're alive in the frame, it's got your biology," Uppercut said. There was a long moment of her watching the device, and all of them leaning forward, almost without realizing.
"She kind of has your face," Windjammer said suddenly. Updraft whirled to look at him, and he shrugged. "They say the sparked look like their parents."
Updraft smiled wanly. "I guess not for you."
She had expected that to annoy him, not make him smile. "It must not extend to siblings, either."
The machine beeped, and Updraft started. She spared a glance at Uppercut, and her spark went fainter at the stiff, startled set of her shoulders.
How embarrassing. For all of them, to have marched in here and claim she was from his spark. Starscream was a liar by definition, and he'd never tell her the truth if she confronted him.
"It's a match."
Her spark went in the other direction, overbright. Knock Out slumped, as if a huge load had been pulled from his shoulders. When he looked at Updraft, his optics were bright. Now he motioned to her, and he seemed to have changed completely.
"Up," he said. When Updraft didn't budge, he motioned more firmly and stood himself. "Come on, then. I'd like to get a good look at my sparklet."
Slowly, Updraft stood. So did Breakdown, though he made right away for the next room.
"You two ome help me get the fuel," he said. It was a meaningful look that Updraft knew well, having seen it enough from her own guardians. Uppercut's optics lingered as she passed through the doorway, her feet dragging.. Updraft knew there was no door, and they'd hear every word.
Updraft couldn't believe that she'd wanted to be alone with this mech a few minutes ago. Not that she was frightened, exactly. She certainly was something as Knock Out circled her slowly.
"Stunning," he said softly. Updraft could hardly hear him. "Just stunning. All my children are beautiful, of course, but in a frame that expensive…"
Updraft's faceplates burned hot. Starscream called her beautiful too, of course. (Always to illustrate his reproductive prowess, but it was a fact all the same.) Skywarp hadn't stopped stopped praising her large optics or wide wings since her upgrade, but Skywarp was not her sire. She'd wished that in the past, but at this moment, in this little sitting room, she was entirely satisfied with this.
"Beautiful," Knock Out said, "but sensible. Vosian heels are an unfortunate fashion. And powerful thrusters, for a frame your size."
Updraft smiled. "I pack a punch," she said. "My tutor says my top speed will only get faster till I'm trained."
Knock Out smiled too, and now Updraft saw warmth. Starscream had never looked at her that way.
"I wasn't a slowpoke myself when I was young. Still not," he said, his smile flashing into a grin. "I just traded in for new means."
His entire demeanor had changed. It was a little like the way Dreadwing and Skyquake softened when they saw her, but far more intense. Fierce was the word she wanted, but there was nothing frightening about Knock Out now. For a moment Updraft let him circle her, and stop, fingers twitching as if he wanted to touch her.
"I knew as soon as I saw your picture why you left," Updraft said finally. "You didn't have wings when you…?"
Knock Out shook his head. "No. No, I fell in with your carrier after Vos. He came looking for an upgrade."
"Out here?" she asked in surprise. Her sire smiled.
"Rodion's modification laws are looser," he said. "At the time I had a reputation for treating flyers well, and he came alone for an upgrade." He made a face. "He certainly left modified."
Updraft stifled her laugh in time. She glanced, nervously, at the doorway, before turning back with her optics cast down.
"Windjammer is older," she said carefully. "Than Uppercut and I."
"Not all of us are monogamous, my dear," Knock Out said. He seemed entirely unconcerned by her questions. "I know what you're afraid of, but I'm no homewrecker. Breakdown knows who my favourite is."
She couldn't be sure of that until she knew them a little better—assuming she'd get the chance for that. Still, her wings relaxed. Knock Out's hand hovered for a moment mid-air, and when Updraft didn't flinch he let it fall, gently, to her shoulder.
"Updraft," he said, like he was planting the name firmly in his mind. "How lovely to meet you, Updraft."
A lump swelled in her throat. She forced herself to pull up some kind of wall, just a little distance, because she was already in danger of feeling like this mech's dear sparklet.
And tried to swallow her thrill, of knowing just how unhappy Starscream would be about his secret backfiring.
The light coming through the windows was gold, nearly red. Updraft had a sire now (a sire, and siblings!) but that didn't change the risks of flying alone at night, halfway around the world.
"I'd better get going," she said, stepping back from Knock Out's hand. "It's getting late—"
"So soon?" Knock Out said. He sounded genuinely put out. Updraft smiled at him.
"I don't want to fly back to my hotel too late," she said. "I can come back tomorrow."
Knock Out's shoulders slumped, and Updraft could imagine the wings he'd once had pointing down with them.
"At least stay for dinner," he said. "Tell us about yourself. I think my daughter in particular is aching to know."
Updraft smiled. "And you're not?" she said.
Knock Out huffed, still smiling. "I'm more polite than to say, of course. Uppercut's still young, and the young are curious."
On cue, Uppercut's head appeared from behind the doorframe. She looked a bit sheepish (from eavesdropping, no doubt).
"Table's set," she said. "Come wash up—I got the nice seat out for Updraft."
As it turned out, the nice seat had a back and a cushion. The other four were stools, arranged around with just enough space to squeeze Updraft in. There was a plate of more than one kind of energon goodie out, along with the usual energon, but Updraft managed to resist taking more than her share.
"Rest is for you," Breakdown said when he'd taken his. Gently, he shook the plate in Updraft's direction.
"Don't say no," Uppercut said, grinning wide. "That means he likes you."
"That's subjective," Breakdown said, but his lips twitched. "Nice to see this went better than I thought it would."
Most of the family was large-framed—there was a lot of bumping of elbows as they sat around the table. Knowing what Updraft did, though, the little building felt warmer.
She was asked question after question, mostly by Uppercut. "When's your creation day? Did you go to school? What's Vos like?"
Then she and her brother cross-referenced this with what Knock Out had told them. Windjammer seemed to remember the details, enough that Updraft wondered if he'd visited the Floating Gardens himself. (He couldn't have, so he must have read up at some point.) The threat to his family neutralized, he had gotten quieter, not suspicious. He had a little trouble with optic contact, and once Updraft saw Knock Out reach out one hand as if to tip his chin back in place. He stopped himself in time, but she could already see how he fussed over his children, concerned for them.
She remembered being small, and her old nurse smudging dirt off her cheek. It made her feel something unexplainable when she next looked at Knock Out.
Uppercut, it turned out, had the same creation day. "I guess not the same year," she said, picking up her last energon jelly.
"I was carrying you when Starscream was about in Rodion," Breakdown said calmly. Windjammer looked at him, disbelieving, but Breakdown didn't even look up. "You could have been twins."
Updraft had never celebrated her creation day. Starscream had told her it was a waste, though Skywarp had slipped her sweetstick bags for it when she was younger. But she returned Uppercut's smile and decided that, yes, this could matter to her, too.
When the energon was gone (better quality than she'd expected), she helped clear up. Knock Out seemed surprised.
"I didn't even know how to wash dishes until I left home," he said. "We had cleaning drones."
Uppercut's optics went wide. "You couldn't wash dishes?"
Knock Out shrugged. "Vosians think such chores are beneath them there."
Updraft's plating burned with embarrassment. Skywarp and Thundercracker employed three small, speedy cleaning drones, but only one had functioned properly in Starscream's penthouse. He simply hadn't been home enough to worry about it, so Updraft had done her dishes. Better that than see him get upset about dirty ones.
Uppercut must have seen her face, and patted her arm. "You're fine," she said. "This just means you're not spoiled."
As Breakdown had said earlier: subjective. Updraft relaxed, and went back to scrubbing.
When she and Uppercut were almost done setting things away, she heard a dial turn. It crackled, in a way that would have made Skywarp replace the offending device on the spot.
There was no decent-sized screen that she could see, though, and only a voice wafted up from whatever Breakdown turned on. Uppercut frowned.
"Do we have to listen to gladiators tonight?" she said. "We have someone important over."
"Megatron only speaks once a week now," Breakdown said. "You kids can keep chatting."
"Let your carrier have this," Knock Out said. "He worked hard all day."
Uppercut shrugged, and gestured for Updraft to return to her old seat. "Windjammer said he's warmongering."
"Please," Knock Out snorted, as Windjammer through his hands up. "He's standing up for the poor. What do you think of Megatron, dear Updraft?"
Everyone looked at her expectantly. Apparently family division would cone in other ways.
"I've never heard of him," she said honestly. "He's not in any holovids?"
"Only when the newsreels deign to let him," Knock Out said. "I'm not surprised. What he calls for isn't what a high-ranking Vosian wants."
"Don't worry about it," Uppercut said quickly. "Right now we should get to know each other. Much more interesting."
This was a lot to take in at once, and Updraft was beginning to feel overwhelmed. Still, she steeled herself, because if the choice was between this and another Vosian party, she could hold her own here.
They settled in the front room, and did just what Uppercut asked. Windjammer worked in construction, and was paid relatively well—probably because he worked hours that would have made the twins' paint curl.
"It's because I can lift more than anyone," he told her, as if he were not the least bit proud of this. "And fly it up on the job sites."
"Well, you don't work two-shift days because you like it so much," Uppercut said, grinning. She turned to Updraft. "My brother needs shanix for the caste-tax. Well—I do, too, but someone won't let me work."
"Too young!" Knock Out called. Uppercut rolled her optics.
"She helps Dad with the shop," Windjammer said. "Good at it, too. She wants to be a real doctor."
Updraft looked at them for a moment. "What…is the caste-tax?" she asked finally. She felt supremely sheltered.
Her new siblings stared at her, which didn't help. Updraft caught a few words of Breakdown's show in the silence, static and rough. Finally Uppercut shifted in her seat.
"I guess you don't have to worry about it," she said. "It's how people like us move up in the world."
"There's a fee that you can pay if you want to take an exam for university, or train for a better job," Windjammer said. "The one for the Elite Guard is steep."
"Medical school is steeper, though," Uppercut said. She'd folded her arms, almost protectively over herself. "I need real work to pay for it. And there's not even a guarantee I'll pass the test."
Updraft remembered her useless placement essays, her guaranteed spot in a prestigious flight academy. She had never thought about the lower castes wanting to do things like that.
That had been stupid of her. Everyone wanted things to be better.
Windjammer smiled. "Our parents help us too," he said. "Knock Out says he didn't work so hard to keep us, just to see us stuck down here."
"Your family loves you," Updraft said. "I get that. It's important."
"The most important," Updraft agreed, her optics bright. "You live with your carrier, right? What's he like?"
Updraft stopped halfway through shrugging, because that would say it all. "He's my carrier," she said. "He…works a lot. I spend more time with his trine."
"What's a trine?" Uppercut asked. Windjammer nudged her.
"His conjunxes."
Updraft laughed. "Sometimes," she said. "They grew up together. Skywarp and Thundercracker are conjunx to each other, just not Starscream."
Uppercut frowned. "Vosians are confusing."
"You're half-Vosian," Updraft shot back, grinning. "So you're at least half as confusing as we are."
"Are all the buildings really thousands of stories?" Windjammer asked. "I mean, I've read about it, but it seems impossible."
"Most of them," Updraft said. To her relief, they'd moved away from her family. It had made her plating crawl with discomfort, imagining this new family finding out how her other one operated.
No, she corrected. They weren't family just because they shared spark energy. Not even if Knock Out kept staring at her over his shoulder like he couldn't get enough of her, or how Uppercut felt like safety and closeness in a way Updraft couldn't explain. How Breakdown and Windjammer were gentle after all, more like Dreadwing and Skyquake than anything.
The radio show crackled out. Breakdown turned to them, optics bright in his slouching frame. The speech, or whatever he'd been listening to, seemed to have brightened him up.
"Well, kids, I need a recharge," he said, easing himself out of his chair. Knock Out patted his arm.
"Megatron went on a particularly long time tonight," he mused. "It must be the lull in the fighting season."
"No lull," Breakdown said. He stretched. "He's gotta fit it all into once a week, and the mech has a lot to say."
His bright optics fell on Updraft in recognition, like he'd nearly forgotten she was there. She stood up, wing nicking the table next to her.
"I'd better get going," she said. "I paid for a couple of nights, so I can be back tomorrow."
"We'll take you," Knock Out said. "Rodion after dark is a much rougher place. Windjammer, my dear, I know you worked two shifts—"
"I'll fly her," Windjammer said. He turned to Updraft and smiled. "Don't look at me like that. We don't go out alone at night, either."
Updraft was sure to fly slow. Windjammer was just as big in the air, and it was nothing like flying with fellow Seekers, but he had perfectly good control in the air. It certainly wasn't the clumsiness she'd expected (and should have known better than to expect, after today). Below them Knock Out and Uppercut drove, though they had to speed along to keep up. Smokescreen would have been jealous of her sire's sleek, red alt mode—Updraft saw the gleam from far above the road.
When she and Windjammer landed, the building was dark, and her access code blared red.
Uppercut laughed, though at Updraft's stricken look she tried to turn it into a cough.
"Are they closed?" she asked nervously. "I mean, it's a hotel, their site said I'd have access…"
"I think you were taken advantage of, my dear," Knock Out said gently. "A lot of these places wait for your things to be in the safe, then lock you out. Especially if you booked on the datanet out of town."
"That's illegal!" Updraft said angrily. She had pressed herself up against the dark doorway, trying to look inside.
"We used to have a place like this on our street," Uppercut said. "They own lots of buildings. They'll set up shop somewhere else."
"My polish," Updraft said, more faintly. Thank Primus she had kept her shanix cards on her. This time, Windjammer laughed.
"You are Knock Out's daughter," he said.
"I've heard him say that exact thing in that exact voice," Uppercut said, grinning wide.
Updraft knew she wasn't being made fun of, not really. Still, her spark flared with embarrassment at her mistake.
"I'll make up a berth for you at home," Knock Out said. He touched one slender finger to his lips, in thought. "As for your polishes, we can work it out tomorrow. Are you willing to spend a night with us?"
She could say no, if she wanted. If she did, they would probably help her find somewhere safe to stay, and her shanix would cover it. These weren't rough people, not really, and maybe they would understand if she chose to turn then down.
So, she smiled.
"I'd like that," she said, and her spark glowed a little brighter at Knock Out's smile.
She woke up to noise. At first Updraft geared up to be unhappy about this—the light rail, on that morning's first full run, roared behind the row of buildings, and her optics snapped open, ready to ask what the frag is going on in Starscream's room—
She remembered where she was. As the transport's sounds faded away, she took stock of the wide berth she was lying in, and of Uppercut's soft vents out on the cot. Clearly the morning road didn't bother those living here. Still, that hadn't been all she'd heard. Straining her audials, she could hear voices downstairs. The low, warm one, one she had just met and now knew, made her smile, and she stretched back out on Uppercut's berth.
(She had insisted on the floor, but Uppercut had told her, gently, that it would have been incomprehensibly rude to let her. So here she was.)
It wasn't even dawn, and Updraft was about to roll over and get back to recharge when she worked out the second voice. Certainly not Breakdown, who in the evening Updraft had known him had proven he was a mech of few words. Windjammer was too soft-spoken, and worked so late. She guessed he was also in recharge, in the room next door to Uppercut's.
Now Knock Out had started scolding, and Updraft's curiosity got the better of her. As quietly as she could, she sat up and swung her legs over the edge. There wasn't a lot of room to creep about, especially not with Uppercut taking up most of the floor.
The door creaked, but Uppercut slept on. The next berth room had its door cracked open, and from inside she could hear soft, rumbling snores. (She teased Skyquake about his back home, when he happened to doze off in the penthouse.) The stairs creaked too, but Knock Out's scolding had gotten louder.
"One of these days you're going to need more than a replacement door," he said. "Really, I get the appeal, but these drag races-"
"You sound like my carrier," said the voice. "'Legal racing or no racing at all!'"
Knock Out sniffed. "I ought to," he said. When Updraft crept closer, she could see him mixing a polish around the corner. "I'm a carrier myself, in case you've forgotten. And a sire."
"Yeah, yeah. I won't stop racing for you."
She dared to take a look around the corner. Knock Out, focused on his work, hadn't seen her, and the mechanical with him was looking elsewhere. White and silver-grey, with big blue optics and a bright red chevron—
Wait—
"Smokescreen?"
She stepped all the way out, and both mechs looked up at her. Knock Out relaxed right way, and his instant, welcome smile made Updraft's spark shine a bit brighter.
"Well, good morning! Did the first train wake you up?" Right away he had put down his polish brush to step forward and greet her. "The racket does take some getting used to."
Smokescreen's optics went narrow as he turned around. Then they went wide, and bright, and Updraft watched his face break out into a wide grin. The door on his back was on what looked like a painful angle, but he still jumped out of his chair and moved towards her.
"Updraft?" he said. If she hadn't been certain who this was, she would have stepped back from his enthusiasm. "Is that really you?"
Knock Out frowned, intending to step between them, but Updraft was faster. She shrieked, and raced forward into his arms.
"You're bigger than I—whoa!"
"Updraft!"
She squealed again when Smokescreen lifted her off the ground, almost activating her thrusters in surprise. This was Smokey, alright—she had never heard his voice, but that new frame and that enthusiasm were unmistakable.
"Hey!"
They all stopped. Knock Out, trying to step between his new charges, Updraft burying her face in Smokescreen's shoulder, and Smokescreen himself…who put her, gently, back on the floor.
Breakdown stood in the doorway, optics almost white in their brightness. Behind him stood Windjammer, rubbing the recharge from his optics. On the stairs they could hear Uppercut's heavy steps, rushing down.
"I thought someone was murdering our Seeker," Breakdown said, a growl in his voice. "Some of us are enjoying a little recharge before our shift."
Updraft's spark sank. She had thought Breakdown had warmed up to her the night before, when she had gotten a chance to explain. Maybe it had just been more Rodion politeness. Behind him, Windjammer smiled, and Updraft pulled her wings back up.
"I can explain," she said quickly. Knock Out was staring at her, and looked, slowly, from her to Smokescreen (whose optics were wide and bewildered, grin sliding off his face in surprise).
"Smokescreen, were you racing again?" asked Uppercut, voice still sleepy. "Your doorwing's half off your back…"
"Doesn't matter," he said quickly. He flashed that dazzling grin again Updraft's way. "What does matter is knowing why my best pal isn't in Vos, but staying in my favourite modder's shop!"
Knock Out raised a brow. "How in the world do you two know each other?" he asked. His optics went narrow, trying to fit this together. "Does Starscream know about…?"
"No," Updraft said quickly. "We met when we were kids. I've seen pictures of his new frame." She flashed Smokescreen a grin. "You can spot that chevron from a mile away."
"He won't have it for long if he treats it like that," Breakdown said. He pointed at the scraped-up paint on Smokescreen's left side. "Your creators paid more than my yearly pay for you."
Smokescreen sighed, and Updraft swore she could recognize those dramatics, text or not. "Are you this fussy over all your clients?"
Knock Out huffed, reaching again for his tools. "Only the young, fool sparked ones that befriend my children. Uppercut—go wash up. Since we're all awake you can help fix this paint."
"Come wash with me," Uppercut said, tugging Updraft's arm. "Before our brother has a chance to use the hot water."
Updraft very much liked how Smokescreen's jaw dropped. It opened and closed a few times, reminding her of the cybercarp she'd once fed at a Vosian park.
"See you, Smokey," she said, knowing his doors would twitch at his childhood nickname. She let Uppercut lead her into the small washrack, and it was only when the hot water was sluicing over them that they looked at each other and burst into giggles.
"Who would have figured?" Uppercut said. One hand was still against the wall to steady herself. "Did you see his face? He looked like one of the cybercarp in Iacon Gardens!"
"I was just thinking that!" Updraft said—and they'd both burst into giggles again. It was nice, to have someone to laugh with like this. She had never thought about it.
Uppercut's polish collection was sparse (Knock Out had said the good stuff was in the shop) but they were still shining when they finished. Uppercut seemed entirely unaware she was pretty, and uninterested in dwelling on her looks anyway. Nothing like a Seeker, who made sure everyone noticed their beauty. Updraft tried not to seem like she was showing off as they went down the stairs.
Windjammer was reading as he sipped his cube, and given that he took up so much of the table, this was a comical sight. Breakdown seemed to be drinking without distraction, until Updraft noticed that the radio show was in again.
Uppercut made a face. "I don't know about that Megatron guy," she said in a low voice. She didn't continue, as Knock Out's voice called out from the shop.
"Sweet spot! I'm mixing the paint!"
"I'll eat after," Uppercut said quickly. Updraft (not sure she wanted to be left with a big, grumpy construction worker) followed, and sat opposite the others as they worked.
"Do I get energon?" Smokescreen asked, watching Updraft sip her breakfast. "I've been up all night, y'know. It burns up energy."
"Dunno," Updraft said. "It's not my house."
She and Smokescreen kept meeting optics, flashing each other grins between his winces and her sips.
"Ten shanix for breakfast," Knock Out said, screwing something delicate-looking in place.
Smokescreen's optics widened. "Ten shanix?! I'm your best customer! Like family!"
Knock Out snorted. "I don't seem to recall calling a mouthy, headstrong speedster family at any point." Stepping back, he patted Smokescreen's shoulder. "All done. Uppercut will touch you up."
"Maybe I'll give you a loyalty perk," Updraft said. "All the candy left in my subspace."
Smokescreen scowled at her, and Updraft gave him her sweetest grin in return. It thrilled her spark, enough that she worried someone might see its joyful glow. Her sire was a mech thrilled to know her, and he knew her only friend. She had a sister and a brother, words she had never used in the context of herself. Maybe one day, after school, when she led a trine.
She dared to think she might just like this better.
"How did you two meet each other?" Knock Out asked, returning with his own energon. "And how did you stay in touch, with Updraft in Vos?"
"I don't think those answers are as good as—whatever is going on here," Smokescreen said. He held his hands out for emphasis. "Your sire's here? You're here? You didn't tell me?"
"I only worked it out yesterday, really," Updraft said. "Starscream could have lied on my record. I was too nervous to message you until I was sure."
"Well, it's awesome," Smokescreen said, chin in hands. "Knock Out's pretty much my racing mechanic. And Uppercut is the nicest, and Windjammer? Oof. Handsome mech."
"Enough," Knock Out said, though he was smiling. "I need to open up for the day, so Updraft can tell me how you two know each other later."
Uppercut made a face. "I need to study," she said. "I forgot last night, with the excitement."
Updraft watched Knock Out scan Smokescreen's shanix card, as the sounds outside grew louder. "I saw a dispensary on my way here," Updraft said. "If Uppercut really has to work."
"I really, really have to, I'm afraid," she said. She had already pulled open a datapad and settled on a seat. "That place is okay. Go catch up."
"You will be back, won't you?" Knock Out said. He paused, and Updraft thought of the night before, how his optics had never left her.
Updraft smiled. "I planned to stay two nights," she said. "I was gonna spend the day sightseeing, if…this went bad. I'll be back."
Knock Out's face softened. "Good to hear it. The shop door will be open."
Outside, Rodion bustled. The light rail roared past and Updraft didn't shrink back, stepping neatly around passersby. The bots of Rodion have them a wide berth, though—she and Smokescreen were expensive and shiny, especially next to these working mechs. It made her spark twinge with discomfort.
In the dispensary, they were served promptly, around a line that stretched the ship's length. Smokescreen leaned over her, his voice a whisper in her audial.
"Wouldn't have minded waiting," he murmured. "Lucky us."
"Hush," Updraft said. A group of factory mechs were staring at them, and she wished they had just stayed in line. "So. It's a small world after all."
Smokescreen grinned. "Sure is. The picture doesn't do your frame justice, y'know. The whole city was admiring you."
Updraft grimaced. "Good compliment, bad execution. I don't like being stared at."
"Really?" Smokescreen said. He popped one of the energon goodies into his mouth. His words were a little muffled around it. "You didn't mind your new sire staring."
"Different and you know it, don't be a slaghead." Updraft looked up, and relaxed at Smokescreen's frown. "Sorry. You look really good too, you know."
"I'm glad I kept the chevron," he said, looking her over again. "Red's a good colour."
The trine would have been in fits right now, watching her flirt with an Iacon speedster. They could have relaxed—she had no plans to tip over that edge, not when things were already wild.
They didn't talk much. That surprised Updraft at first, because there had been times over the years when they had fired off comm after comm, starved for company in their respective towers. Companionable silence was good too. Thundercracker said you didn't have to fill every quiet moment with chatter (but that might just have been when she and Skywarp were talking too much).
"How often do you race?" she asked, when they left the dispensary. In her hands was a bag of leftover energon candies.
Smokescreen shrugged. "Twice a week? I don't always get hurt, but Knock Out's good when I do."
"You come out of your way," Updraft said. Rodin's low buildings and soft colours were nothing like Iacon or Vos.
He grinned at her. "If I went to the doctor in Iacon, he'd tell my parents. I might lose my scholarship."
"Can't be much of a scholarship if you earned it."
Smokescreen elbowed her, and she snickered. The morning crowd was starting to thin, as people reported to work and wherever else.
"So!" Smokescreen said, more cheerfully. "You still love flying? Love Vos?"
Updraft's spark felt darker, and she felt her wingtips droop.
"Of course I love flying," she said softly. Next to her, Smokescreen's steps slowed.
"Doesn't sound like it," he said. His voice had gone gentle.
"I do!" Updraft said, more firmly. "It's Vos I hate."
"Oh," Smokescreen said after a moment. "Still news to me. Don't you have a few nice mechs around you? Skywarp and Skyquake, and…some other guys whose names aren't that?"
Updraft shrugged. They were getting closer to Knock Out's shop, on its busy corner. "Of course. But I hate Vos, not them. The expectations and the behaviour and the…the excess. I feel like I'm drowning in it."
Smokescreen sighed. Updraft thought he would scoff, because that had been Thundercracker's response to a similar confession. Yes, it could be bad, but she didn't have to buy into it. That was the gateway to opportunity, to put up with it.
Smokescreen surprised her.
"It feels weird going home sometimes, after coming here," he said. It was like he was admitting a crime. "The caste-tax is exempt from scholarships, you know. I'll never work as hard as Uppercut has to."
Smokescreen opened the shop door, and Updraft didn't even hear the bell ring. She hadn't even been thinking about the caste-tax—maybe about hers and Smokescreen's comfortable lives, but not what Uppercut and Windjammer had mentioned the night before.
Knock Out had had that once. The buildings so far off the ground, the wealth, the flight. He'd given it up for wheels, something that still rang of insanity in her Vosian brain.
She stopped thinking about it (though it still sat in the back of her min) and followed Smokescreen quickly through the waiting room, into Knock Out's shop. He was where they'd left him—only the project, and the half-finished cube on his desk, were new.
"You had a good catch-up?" he asked. It was the voice Updraft had only heard used on his children. Of which, technically, Updraft was now one. She smiled, and let her guard down an inch.
"It's a lot better than a long-range comm," she said. Knock Out smiled.
"I'm sure. Did you tell him all the details of your discovery?" He tilted his head towards Smokescreen, optics still on Updraft. All the while, his quick hands were working away.
"Not yet, actually," she said. "It...didn't come up."
Knock Out chuckled. "You two must lead very interesting lives, if your long-lost sire didn't make the cut."
In time she realized he was teasing her. She smiled, more shyly, as Smokescreen tapped her arm.
"I need to go," he said. Then, over their frequency, comm me tonight. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before stepping back, past Knock Out's work table. "I'll be back tomorrow, to see more of my long-lost friend. Got any mods coming in?"
"Shoo," Knock Out said, the scolding technician again. "Nothing I'll attach to a bratty street racer. I do hope we see you as a guest tomorrow, not a patient."
"Me too!" Smokescreen said, optics bright. "See you, Updraft."
Updraft felt warmer even when they left, the odd feeling from before fading. Knock Out was still smiling, his hands not slowing down.
"I sent Uppercut back upstairs to do her studying," he said. "You're welcome to join her—unfortunately, my work rarely stops."
"I'd really like to talk to you later," Updraft said. "About...everything. My carrier."
Knock Out's hands paused. "I'll bet you do," he said softly. "I'm not this kind or smothering to most mechs, but I'm sure this has been a lot for you. Getting to know each other is plenty without all this enthusiasm."
"I like it," Updraft said, and she meant it. "I feel like...I don't know. Safe. I was worried you wouldn't want me."
She had to wonder how Knock Out looked at others, because it couldn't be the softness she saw. She couldn't let her guard down, but she was certain it was okay to enjoy the attention. She almost jumped at a knock on the workshop's door
"We'll have to talk later," Knock Out said. He reached out, and touched her shoulder quickly. "But be certain of this: you have been a delightful surprise."
Updraft really did feel better as she headed upstairs.
She had dozed off, as Uppercut studied medical texts more complex than Updraft had ever even thought about. Uppercut hadn't seemed to mind ("there's a lot to take in"). When she had woken back up, on her half-sibling's berth, afternoon light streaming in, they'd talked about superficial things. Candy, novels, holovids. Things friends shared, not at all serious but somehow so important to know.
Uppercut had to rent books, and go to the public venue to see the holovids, but they liked many of the same ones. Romances and dramas, but also comedies, and adventure stories. Uppercut had been educated at home like her, but out of necessity, and had devoured books to stave off her loneliness.
"I always wanted someone to play with," Updraft said. She had been struck by how they'd read and studied for the same reasons, really—being alone, in a small space, had its toll on a sparklet. "You didn't play with Windjammer?"
"Of course I did," Uppercut said. Her textbook lay forgotten as she leaned over her seat's back. "Well, he was Kickstart then. He changed his name at upgrade. But it wasn't the same, when we saw each other all the time. We wanted to go to school."
"So did I," Updraft said. "I don't think Vos even has one for sparklets."
"We're few and far between," said Uppercut. "I think my parents must have paid a heck of a caste-tax to keep us."
Starscream probably would have paid to keep Updraft away from him, if he could have guaranteed his influence otherwise. But maybe her own guardians, not Starscream, had fought over her, too.
Updraft felt like she had known this femme all her life, from the moments they had both been born, on the same day of the same calendar year. Sired by the same doting mech, and brought up in a warm house full of attention. Where someone had worked hard to keep them.
"It wasn't easy for you, was it," Uppercut said suddenly.
Updraft lifted her head, looking into Uppercut's wide red optics. Even seated, Updraft had to look up at her.
"What do you mean?" Updraft asked, genuinely confused.
Uppercut shrugged, looking away. "Sorry, sorry. Maybe that was rude. It just sounds...hard, up there by yourself. With just your carrier."
"Not just him," Updraft said. "Really, hardly him at all. I spent more time with his lieutenants and my bodyguards. I used to be really nervous around my carrier, actually!"
She was smiling as she said it, but Uppercut's shoulders had slumped. She didn't get it, but that was okay. How could anyone get it the way Updraft did, when she was Starscream's only offspring?
"I can handle it," she found herself saying, to reassure both of them. "This is almost like a vacation for me, so I can go back to Vos all refreshed, right?"
"Yeah," Uppercut said softly. Her look had gone hard, studying Updraft for a long moment. "Yeah, and maybe we'll have more visits. You should tell me about your bodyguards. I definitely never had those."
"Well," Updraft said cheerfully, "your carrier and your brother are huge. You wouldn't have needed them anyway."
To protect me from Starscream was not the answer she'd give Uppercut, not now. Not when this bot seemed to know her too well already. She didn't have to know everything yet.
Windjammer came home, then Breakdown, and the former sat on the floor (well, squeezed, between the berth and the desk) to chat before his own studies. Updraft swore Breakdown had smiled as he was leaving again, but she suspected he might deny it if someone had pointed it out.
When the shadows grew long again, after an early fueling, Updraft was treated to a professional polish.
"You didn't have to close early for me," she said, and meant it, but Knock Out waved his hand.
"The other two are sick of this treatment," he said. "Now, relax. It's not the expense you're used to, but I'm good at my job."
He was, and Updraft found herself thoroughly enjoying being the centre of attention. In Vos it had become significantly less enjoyable, but Knock Out had no malice in the way he talked to her and Uppercut, or in how he treated her frame. After a pleasant half-hour, he pointed to the corner, where a tub was inlaid in the floor. Updraft hadn't even noticed it until now.
Updraft had never had a bath—Starscream had had their small washrack, and shower heads, and it was never something to be discussed. She hadn't even considered it an option. Still, watching it fill with hot, soapy water, she could imagine Starscream enjoying the luxury.
"The best part of the building," Knock Out said proudly. "We saved for years to put this in."
It was a beautiful tub, inlaid with some kind of light-reflecting crystal that made light sparkle in the water. Gingerly, Updraft dipped in a foot.
"And you're sure it won't wash off the polish?" she asked. Her gold accents gleamed from the detailing they'd given her—she didn't think they'd shone like that her first day in this frame.
"It sets it, actually," Uppercut said. She was at the work table, textbooks spread out over its surface now that the polishing was done. "We put a shimmering agent in there."
Updraft couldn't help but sigh in pleasure as she sank into the warm water, deep enough to come up to her neck. "I need one of these," she said. Knock Out chuckled.
"I would have thought Starscream would have one," he said. "I heard he lived quite well, even before you were born."
"Oh, he does," Updraft said. She had offlined her optics, to enjoy the sensation. "I don't think he's home enough to care about a bath."
"Mm. In that case, he's deprived you," Knock Out said. "No matter. A sire's job is to spoil their sparklet."
"I could get used to being spoiled," Updraft mumbled.
She couldn't imagine leaving, not at this moment. Rodion was rough around the edges, loud, messy...but lively, full of interesting corners. Close to glittering Iacon, which didn't seem so scary rebuilt and housing Smokescreen. And where her sire, and sister, and brother lived, all mechs who seemed thrilled to have her.
It was all too good to be true, of course. Her shuttle home left tomorrow morning, to drop her off before someone would find her gone. She would have comm frequencies, to keep in touch, but who knew when the next visit would be? The ache of her deception hung low beneath her spark, even knowing she was welcome in this building another night. It hurt to know that Skywarp and Thundercracker couldn't know her joy, or that she had left at all.
"It's such a shame you can't stay longer," Knock Out said. He'd begun to clean up his workspace as Updraft soaked. "We'll have that talk, you and I, before we recharge."
"I'd like that," Updraft said. She would have to try not to recharge in the warm water, relaxing as it was. "There's so much I want to ask you. More than will fit into one talk."
"I'm sure. It's all very—"
Updraft was jarred awake by a knock on the door. No, not a knock, but pounding, enough that she sat up and Uppercut stood abruptly. Somehow she looked even bigger, on her guard, especially when the lock on the door was shaken.
"What in—" Knock Out frowned, turning towards the door. "My apologies, but the sign says closed! We open back up at—"
There was a familiar purple crack, inside the room, and Updraft's spark flared white.
She stood up in time to see Skywarp staring at her, his jaw set in a horrible, snarling way she had never seen before. Her mouth opened to explain, to say anything, but no words came out as Skywarp shoved past Knock Out and strode towards her.
Terror gripped her. He looked like he was surveying a crime scene—the patient, funny mech who had raised her was nowhere in sight. She only realized he'd clicked a cuff around her wrist when he tugged it, forcing her to take a step out of the bath.
"I'm sorry, kiddo," he said. Updraft wanted to purge when she realized, right away, that he wasn't sorry at all. "This is for your own good."