A/N: Wow! I didn't think I'd ever get this chapter up! I never realized just how hard it was to write Skywarp. I tried my best to keep him character, but on the other hand that's what's so wonderful about fanfiction—you can write anyone however you want. Got some twists planned for the near future and we'll be hearing from our "friends" at Sector Seven next chapter. Special thanks to Starfire201 and whitedino for hanging with me through all these chapters. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own TFs; Hasbro does.
Chapter Twelve: Pieces
With a groan Thundercracker struggled to his hands and knees. Caked dirt and grime fell from his armor leaving a dusky residue over the cobalt color. A rip in his armor over the left intake and a nasty gash on his left arm streamed a river of purplish-orange sparks; both wings had numerous dents, chips and scratches. Fortunately neither wing was injured to the point of inhibiting flight. Never had Thundercracker been happier for Cybertronian alloy.
"TC? Are you all right?" Skywarp grabbed his wingmate by the arm and helped him to his feet. He swayed a little as his stabilizing servos struggled to recalibrate.
The massive blue jet shook his head, trying to clear the haze clouding his processor. When his senses finally came to him, he looked Skywarp in the optics and firmly grasped the black jet's shoulders.
"Something'szz happened to her," he choked out, vocalizer buzzing slightly.
Skywarp took a step back and cocked a red optic in confusion. "You mean the human?" he asked, sounding slightly disgusted.
"YESS'ZZ! THE HUMAN!" he snarled. Rage and worry flashed in Thundercracker's optics. He slashed the open air with his clawed hand, a shower of sparks following in its wake. "I need to get to her, NOW!"
"Hey, take it easy, TC," Skywarp conceded, raising his hands up. "Just tell me what in the Pit is going on."
The smoldering fury in the blue Seeker's optics dimmed marginally as his rational thought processes began to take over. It would do the human no good to fly off the handle and quite possibly, under the circumstances, allow his rage to filter through their mind link—more than likely it would do more harm than good. He drew in a deep, raspy drought of air through his intakes and then slowly released it in an effort to buy time and collect his thoughts. "The human and I share a mind link," he said simply, after a moment's pause.
"Huh? Can you put that in idiot-speech, please?" Pure puzzlement was written across Skywarp's face as he tried to comprehend what his friend just told him.
Thundercracker growled in frustration as he struggled to put the concept of telepathy into simpler terms. "Let me put it to you thiszz way. You know that Soundwave can read the mindszz of other mechs, right?"
"Yeah."
"And he can talk with his miniature scrapheaps without actually saying anything out loud, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Well, the human and I can kind of do the same thing, only juszzt between the two of uszz. And don't ask me how or why 'causzze I barely know myself," Thundercracker finished irritably. "It just happened."
For a long time, the black and purple Seeker just stared with his mouth agape and one optic ridge cocked upwards in pure disbelief. When Skywarp did speak his voice was a mixture of astonishment, anger, revulsion and wonder.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"I wish I was, Warp, I wish I was," Thundercracker held the bridge of his nose in aggravation, "and you're the only other mech besides uszz who knows. Breathe a word of thiszz to anyone, and I will personally rip your wings off and shove them down your intakes 'til they come out your afterburners!"
"Hey I didn't mean offense, bud. You know I would never rat you out, as the humans say. We've been through too much together. Cut me some slack, will ya?" Skywarp said, a trace of hurt in his tone.
"I'm sorry, Warp. I've been under a lot of pressure lately trying to keep thiszz from Screamer and now that Soundwave'szz here…" he trailed off, voice filled with uncertainty.
"I catch your drift." Skywarp rubbed the back of his helm in nervous agitation. "Well, if something has happened to her, and if your crash is anything to go by, you're both pretty much slagged."
"Thank you for your kind wordszz of support," Thundercracker sneered.
"Well, we ain't helping her much by standing around here running our mouth components, are we? First things first, my human-loving friend," the black jet said with a mischievous glint in his red optics and promptly received a death glare in return, "I'm going to fix that fraggin' vocalizer of yours, patch ya up a little and then while we're headin' back to base and we'll draw up a plan of action."
"Who died and put you charge?" his wingmate replied sourly.
"Whose the one that took out half a national forest?"
Skywarp ducked just in time to avoid a large tree trunk on a collision course with his helm.
"Ohhhh," Dezba groaned. She lay flat on her stomach back in the familiar confines of her holding cell. Her head felt as if it were attached to the business end of a wrecking ball in full swing demolition; she felt dizzy, nauseous, and slightly feverish. Blood throbbed with a painful cadence against her eardrums. She struggled to a sitting position, the disgusting feeling of dried sweat tingled every limb; her fatigues were still slightly damp from the ordeal. She sat quietly willing the after-effects of the torture to subside.
When her headache had subsided slightly, she crawled to the farthest corner of the room and curled into a small ball. The damage Soundwave had done to her mentality was immense. She could not concentrate on any particular thought or image; every time she tried a wave of nausea assailed her, followed by a sharp, dagger-like pain in the back of her head. Dezba closed her eyes, tears slipping out of the corners. Was nothing sacred anymore? The comfort of her mind, her innermost thoughts and memories protected from mortal men, violated by a metal monster. She felt exposed, vulnerable. At this point, Dezba's greatest desire was to just slip away into darkness and never wake. Her eyelids drooped and eventually closed, enveloping her in the welcomed blackness. She had no idea how long she drifted in the inky blackness known as unconsciousness. It was bliss, pure peaceful bliss to not think on any particular thought. She could have remained in that state forever; but a loud and rude voice echoed through the stillness.
"WAKE UP!"
With a start the black-haired girl jerked awake. "Who said that?" She mumbled out loud.
"Who do you think it is!? It's me, Thundercracker," came the angry retort.
"Thundercracker?"
"Yes, don't you remember me?" His response sounded angry and worried at the same time.
For a very long moment silence reigned between the two parties. With each passing second, Thundercracker was growing more and more vexed. Did she remember him? Had Soundwave gotten his oily servos on her? It would definitely explain her memory lapse; he had heard of similar occurrences with mechs who had run-ins with the Communications Officer; it was definitely logical to conclude that the same thing could happen to a human if not with worse consequences.
A raging storm battered Dezba's broken mind. She wanted to slip back into her blissful darkness and yet the voice speaking to her was so familiar; her curiosity had been piqued. Where…have I heard it…before? She struggled to piece together the remnants of her shattered memories. It hurt. Oh how it hurt to dig around, to try and find something that you've lost, to hear it in your mind, only to have all traces of familiarity pass through your fingers as wisps of smoke. She battled the darkness for what seemed like an eternity, searching for a trace of a memory that would put a face to the voice.
Suddenly a foreign presence pushed into her mind. She gasped in pain and fright, physically recoiling from it as if it were a viper ready to strike. Was that monster back to finish her off? But wait. This presence radiated warmth and solidarity; it wasn't like the cold, icy tendrils that had ravaged her mind earlier. It was like a bright, reddish flame hovering in midair, driving out the darkness as well as drawing to itself the shattered pieces of her memory. Within her mind she reached for the strange presence. Dezba could feel the pieces being drawn back together; the light was acting as magnet. A strong desire to feel its warmth and radiance overtook her. As the two entities touched, a shower of bright sparks erupted within her head.
All of a sudden, the young girl found herself sitting next to broad river. It flowed lazily, hardly a ripple breaking the blue-green surface. Then she heard a voice, a soft feminine voice…her mother's voice. Dezba whirled around and saw an image of her mother. She sat before her daughter, talking as if there wasn't a problem in the world. Then it hit Dezba like a wave from an open floodgate. All of her memories, past and present hit her in a wave of recollection. She remembered.
"Thundercracker?"
"I'm here."
"I remember now."
"I had hoped that little image would jump-start your memory circuits. Looks like it worked," he drawled.
"Thank you," she paused briefly. "Where are you?"
"I am returning from patrol as we speak. Where are you? What happened?"
"I'm back in the cell. As for what happened I'm not sure. The last thing I clearly remember was this big, new guy coming to my cell. A little dude about my size popped out his chest and dragged me to this room. They put me on the table and the next thing I know my head felt like it was being run over by a steamroller. Where were you? Why didn't you help me?"
There was a brief silence followed by something like a sigh. "I didn't want to put you, or myself for that matter, in any more danger than we already were, but I see that by standing down and doing nothing I only made things worse for both of us. It was not the most intelligent decision I have made."
A soft growl flowed through their connection. She could feel the remorse radiating through their bond; he truly regretted what had happened to her. She could feel something else as well. She was physically uncomfortable, her left arm tingled as if the blood flow had been cut off and then restored. How odd. She did not recall laying on it; then again, she hadn't been able to recall much of anything until recently.
"Don't worry about it, Thundercracker. Let's just concentrate on what we're going to do now."
"I will come for you as soon as we reach base; there are things that need…discussed."
"We?"
"Skywarp is with me," he added.
"Oh. Well…umm…what should I do if that mind-raping, walking trashcan returns?"
"Contact me immediately. Chances are Soundwave will already know of our connection, but I will try to help you block his advances. Primus knows I don't need a repeat of this particular solar cycle."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, fear and curiosity mingling in her voice.
"I'll explain when we get there," he growled. "Until then, rest."
For once, Dezba had no problem with that order. With Thundercracker's help her memories were restored and the migraine headache had decreased substantially. However, her head still throbbed dully with each heartbeat. As she felt his presence leave her mind, Dezba settled back into a small ball. Yes, rest did sound like a pretty good idea.
"Soundwave, report."
"Human female in possession of residual AllSpark energy," came the monotone reply.
At this news Starscream's optics widened with surprise and then began to glow with an intense crimson light. "Are you certain about this?"
"Affirmative."
This was news indeed. The AllSpark had been destroyed in the battle at Mission City and the only other source of AllSpark energy (the shard) was in Autobot possession. Where did this energy come from?
"Any ideas on how this human came to have AllSpark energy?" Starscream voiced his question.
"Energy Source: Undetermined. Further analysis required," said Soundwave. His red visor glowed ominously.
"Are you saying you need to examine the girl again? What kept you from getting answers the first time?" Starscream demanded, crossing his massive arms over his cockpit in agitation.
"Affirmative. Physical endangerment of prisoner was imminent. Conditions of termination questionable."
Starscream growled softly to himself. Primus damn the weakness of these flesh creatures! He uncrossed his arms, turned and proceeded to walk across the room, his back to his Communications Officer. After several long moments, he turned and faced Soundwave again. "She is of no use to me terminated, at least not until we discover the true nature behind her mentality."
Once again Sounwave's visor lit with an unholy light. "What is recommended course of action?"
The cold, calculated question hung in the air like breath on a cold morning. Starscream held his chin between two talon-tipped fingers, contemplating the question. "Proceed with your interrogations, Soundwave. Do as many as necessary until you find the source or a clue to the source. Just as long as she doesn't die, I don't care what you do or how you do it. She may hold the answer to saving Cybertron." He cast a fierce glance at the Nighthawk. "You are dismissed."
With a curt nod, the black jet turned and left the room. His processor hummed with all the possibilities to garner more information from the human female, if not to satisfy Starscream's curiosity, it was to satisfy his own. The girl's mental barrier was very intriguing. How did it get there? Where did it come from? Who was the entity that had cast him out and would he be able to overpower him? He had deliberately neglected to mention to his Commanding Officer that he had been cast out of the girl's mind. He would need to do some research on this girl and find out as much as possible about her, past and present. Also there was one other thing Soundwave wanted to investigate. Why was the girl interested in Thundercracker's whereabouts prior to the interrogation?
