A/N: I admit it, I was tempted to post some April Fools' joke here but I value my health and my beta would have skinned me alive *cough* So yeah. Respect the beta.
There were a lot of things Will had expected from the flight. He had expected to break the test dummy at least a few times – not on purpose, granted, but because they were a Seeker, this was the sky, and restraint of any kind was something utterly unnatural to any proper Seeker of the breed – and he had expected to get chewed out in return by Ratchet. He had expected to spend just about the entire flight intently focused on the small program that showed him and the monitors on ground what the dummy's sensors went through and what it would translate to in effects on a real human body. He had expected to need to land, use the spare dummy instead, and hear no end of the comments born from destroying the first one because Seeker programming wasn't meant to lower itself to adapt to mere organic life – he hadn't hoped that one would be necessary but had expected it nonetheless – and he had expected to spend the entire flight reining in a temperamental, impatient bird-brain that would much, much rather push Mach three again and see if they could push themselves that little bit further again, medics be damned.
He had not expected to find his entire world narrowed down to twelve point four grams of soft, yellow metal and neither had he expected the Seeker to follow suit. It didn't care in the least about the test dummy because it was nothing more than an overgrown sensor and not sentient in the very least, and even if it had been, Will still somehow doubted the bird-brain would have cared in the slightest. It was small and insignificant, it was not a mate, bonded, or kin, and that made it, at the very best, something to be ignored and pitied and disposed of if it got in the way too much. Its entire world was narrowed down to that small, light necklace and any thoughts of Ratchet and Ironhide and demanding programming and all the other things he had gotten so used to dealing with were little more than an afterthought at best.
He had expected to need to pay attention to that little program to tell him if he had damaged his stand-in for a human pilot but he hadn't so much as glanced at it and even then, he was pretty sure they had still gotten it right. There were a million things to keep track of, a million dangers to painfully remind him of just how fragile the human body was, but it didn't matter.
Fly nice, Sarah had told them, and the small pendant had barely so much as trembled as they had taken off with a kind of caution and gentleness that he doubted even the actual human-built F-22s were capable of. He knew it felt unnatural to the Seeker to do – and in all fairness there was enough of that programming affecting him to agree with that – but even then there hadn't been any kind of fight about it. It was mate, mate had told them to behave and fly nice, mate had offered proof of their claim and possession, and if they could do this right, then they might even be able to take her for a flight as well and show her the world from a Seeker's point of view.
Which, Will had realised with not a small bit of surprise, was pretty damn high on the Seeker's list of things it wanted to do. It had been willing to consider flying around with some of the people Will considered friends but only reluctantly. They were organic, human squishies with no wings and no sense of flight at all and the Seeker was in no way just going to demean itself to consent to carrying around worthless little creatures like that. In those exact words, too, no matter how hard Will had mentally glared at it for that. Sarah being a mate, though, apparently put her in an entirely different category and he got the clear impression that taking her for a flight was above all else another chance to show off, stake its claim, and prove to her just how competent of a mate it was and how very fortunate she was to have been claimed by it.
He supposed it was sort of romantic, in whatever way passed for that sort of thing where Seekers were concerned. He'd given up on trying to talk the thing out of claiming her for a mate, and he was long, long past the time of trying to talk Sarah out of anything once she'd made up her mind, and everything considered... it could have been worse. It would protect her with its life, at least, and he could appreciate that.
Below them, the Indian Ocean passed by them slowly as they circled Diego Garcia in a wide, lazy circle at speeds that didn't even approach half of what they were capable of, although he knew that some of that reserve power that would have gone into pushing them to the unhealthy range of a clear Mach three was now spent on human issues instead. Oxygen, a comfortable temperature, attention spent on making sure he wouldn't forget himself and throw himself into some stupid bit of acrobatics that would have killed a pilot... even the first two issues alone had been more of a surprise than they probably should have been. He looked like an F-22 but no proper Seeker would have given any thought at all to human comfort and his Seeker had been no different in that regard. The cockpit wasn't functional because a Seeker wouldn't have cared in the least and that meant that the first order of the day had been to fix that little oversight, along with any other oopses that had made their way into his scanned design. Like the fact that the whole chair, straps and padding and all, had been nothing but a prop. It was made to look the part, not feel it, and as a result the straps didn't work and the seat itself was about as comfortable as a slab of concrete. It didn't take much to fix it – a new, more detailed scan did the trick – but it did remind him just where the Seeker's priorities lay. It might have been different for someone like Starscream but Will somehow doubted it. Why care about insignificant details like that unless you had to? Why adapt to pitiful organics if you had no intentions of ever letting one near your precious self?
The world passed by below them, the small program that tracked the data from the dummy kept up its own, constant reports, the necklace shifted gently with every minute change of speed and course, and maybe that was why Will for the third time only found himself noticing the small, blinking icon in his processors after several long seconds.
Small, insistent, and very, very familiar in its unprotected and very much not an Autobot frequency way, and for another long few seconds he was tempted not to answer at all. It didn't have to be Starscream, of course, although odds dictated it was. It could be Megatron or whoever else decided to play 'poke the Autobot Seeker' but Starscream was the Air Commander and odds were that the incoming call was from him. He wasn't worried about the 'Con physically showing up – there was nothing on his scans and NEST would have notified him if the flying fragger had been spotted in the area – but they hadn't parted on the best of terms and from what little he knew, Starscream could hold a grudge like nobody's business.
It was probably Starscream, although it didn't have to be, and even if it was, there were other things to take into account. If it was the Air Commander hailing him and he didn't answer, it would just frag off the 'Con all the more and they'd managed that more than enough the last time. Insulting Starscream hadn't been one of his brightest ideas, even if it had put Will himself in a much better mood, and while he wanted nothing else than to have a go at round two, there were other things to keep in mind this time... like the small, small advantage of being sort of kin to the fragger. He didn't like to think about it, didn't want to acknowledge it, but it was still an advantage until the first shot was fired and if nothing else, he might be able to get a little more information out of it. It hadn't worked before but then, that was how it was sometimes and it was worth a try.
The icon kept up its insistent, incessant blinking and finally Will caved and opened the line.
"Decepticon Air Commander Starscream to Autobot Seeker Will, negative seven-point-four, seven-two-point-one," Starscream's familiar voice greeted him, and whatever snippy anger Will had expected, it wasn't there. "Are you in need of assistance?"
Whatever he had expected the Air Commander to say, that certainly wasn't it, either, and for a moment neither Seeker nor human could do anything to react but simply stare, unable to come up with any sort of coherent response.
"Decepticon Air Commander, this is Autobot Seeker." He paused, uncertain and torn between the instinctive reaction to tell Starscream to shove it and Seeker programming that told him the 'Con sounded like he genuinely meant it and frag it all, but life had been so much simpler as a human. "Key word, Air Commander, being 'Autobot'."
Implied, 'Why do you care?' and Starscream would be smart enough to pick up on that.
"Key word, Autobot Seeker, being 'Seeker'," Starscream corrected in a voice that was vaguely annoyed, vaguely impatient, but still somehow oddly determined as well, and Will felt a shiver down his spine as programming latched on to every nuance of that voice and brought out the same complex sounds that made it so unpleasant to human ears and so compelling to a Seeker. "I repeat: Decepticon Air Commander Starscream to Autobot Seeker Will, negative seven-point-five, seven-two-point-two. Are you in need of assistance?"
There was a snarky retort at the tip of his non-existent tongue but it died before he could voice it, his own annoyance and disbelief mixed with the confusion and surprise from his Seeker half, and this was Starscream but not the Starscream he remembered from battle; not the cowardly, self-centered flying pest of a Seeker that had been so much of a pain to them all.
Kin, his own Seeker half murmured by way of explanation, a string of images flickering by his processors – Cybertronian and Seeker glyphs, memories of kin and family, Ratchet's explanations and the overwhelming feeling of belonging – and he could have told Starscream to go frag himself, but something stopped him.
Kin, the Seeker had called him and according to Ratchet, that was vaguely what Starscream considered them as well until he was sure they hadn't just been brainwashed or something by the 'Bots, and if that was the case... why throw away a strategic advantage before you had to? The Air Commander had been a pest the last time they had talked but he didn't seem to hold any grudges and... that was then, wasn't it? If Starscream was willing to play nice for the moment and put kinship ahead of faction loyalties, if he was willing to just write it off as a young Seeker being too stupid to know any better, who were they to antagonise him in return when it might mean giving up a potential advantage in the future?
He took a deep, mental breath, pushed aside the biting little remarks that were itching to get out, and forced himself to pay attention to his own Seeker's cues and get it right. The longer they could keep the 'Cons from figuring out what had actually happened, the better. If they never learned at all, then Will would be a happy, happy bird-brain.
"Decepticon Air Commander, this is Autobot Seeker." Another pause, knew damn well that it wouldn't have been how a normal Autobot Seeker would have responded, but he kept the words strategic advantage firmly in mind and if it meant they responded more like a proper Seeker than an Autobot one, they could deal with that, too. "Negative, Air Commander. I am not in need of assistance at this time."
The line was silent at that and he could almost feel Starscream's optics on him. The Seeker part of him cringed like he was five years old and in trouble again and trying his damn best to talk his way out of it, the human waited tensely for whatever would follow next, and between the two of them, they kept their bonds firmly shielded. They didn't need Ironhide's temper and impatience to make it any worse and Ratchet... maybe Ratchet would be able to help, but their control of the bonds was still unsteady and opening one while keeping the other shielded might not hold if the conversation went south.
"Autobot Seeker, you're at below optimal speed and even the fleshlings could outmanoeuvre you with the way you're flying now," Starscream finally said, and the undercurrent of utter disgust worked much better to make his Seeker half cringe again than snide baiting would have done. It was also a clear demand for an explanation for just what he thought he was doing and if he'd had any time to consider it at all, it would have frightened him how easy it was to fall into the role of a real Seeker being chewed out by its commanding officer for some bit of stupidity or another. He would realise it later but as it was, it was probably a good thing there was too much else going on to notice that immediately.
He didn't owe the flying fragger the least bit of an explanation but his Seeker part demanded it, anyway, and neither of them could afford to show weakness. The necklace trembled slightly as his distraction showed in the sudden rush of power to the engines but they had it back under control an instant later and Will released the tension in his frame that he hadn't even been aware of until then.
To admit he was showing restraint for a mate would be weakness, to claim he was doing it voluntarily would be even worse – Seekers had no term for restraint in flight, only the concept of weakness – and to lay all the blame on the feet of their Prime wasn't something he ever wanted to do, especially not when it was undeserved.
He was tempted for a second to ask Ratchet for advice-
-And then the explanation offered itself an instant later, half lie, half truth, and altogether plausible as he offered a silent apology to the medic and drawled his response.
"Decepticon Air Commander, I thought even the 'Cons knew better than to frag off a wartime CMO. There might be organics going faster than me out there but at least I still have my wings."
Whatever he'd expected from that, laughter wasn't it, but there it was, anyway, dark and compelling and enough to send a shiver of pleasure through his body – pride-acceptance-acknowledgement-approval – and he shuddered under the assault of it all. The first talk had been careful reconnaissance from both of them, the second had been mostly insults and innuendos, and this time... this time, the fragger had apparently decided to play friendly and see if that got any kind of progress and somewhere in the back of Will's processors, he could feel it working on his Seeker half.
"Does he still threaten to reformat the unfortunate into undesirable bits of work equipment? The Hatchet should find himself a new threat. That one grows old and ineffective without actions to back it up."
He felt his Seeker half flinch at that and the clear impression of fear-dominance-respect that came with it, and whatever else the medic might be as their future mate, it was pretty clear that the Seeker wasn't about to cross him any time soon. He wondered for a moment just how much the 'Con remembered about Ratchet and how much they had even interacted in the first place, and then the thought was gone again, dismissed before Starscream could get impatient waiting for a response.
"How about you find his private comm-frequency and tell him that to his face?" Will drawled. "I might be a Seeker but I'm not that stupid."
He realised his mistake about a second too late to matter and could almost feel the temperature drop over the comm-line as Starscream's mercurial moods kicked in again.
"Is that what they tell you, Seeker?" he hissed. "That you're worth less than your pathetic, weak, wingless companions? That you're nothing more than a drone, driven by programming and instincts? Or is that what you believe? That any coding they fail to comprehend in their worthless little processors must mean you are somehow a lesser being than them?"
Too late to fix his mistake and frag it all to the Pit, but he had to learn to control himself better. Necklace, test dummy, and small program forgotten, his Seeker part focused completely on Starscream and Will wasn't about to argue.
"I know my programming, Starscream. You can't tell me that something that'll turn me so temperamental that I'm a danger to my surroundings is an advantage. They don't have wings but at least they can control themselves, which is more than I can say about us."
Starscream laughed again, harsh, mocking, and with no humour in it at all.
"Have they taught you to hate yourself, Seeker? I would have expected it from their walking weapons but not from the Prime or the Hatchet. What you call weakness is our survival. Their Allspark is gone, Will. They will fade and offline and there will be no one new brought online to take their place. What you call weakness is life, Seeker. What they think of as cowardice is survival. As they die, we will remain."
The words struck too close to home and if he had been human, he would have felt a knot in his stomach as memories flared up; Sam with the cube, the chaos that was Mission City, and the slow, terrifying realisations that none of them understood until much later.
The Allspark is gone and they'll die because we killed them.
Starscream clearly mistook his silence for something else because he continued in a lower, smoother voice, strong and persuasive and with every bit of his control as Air Commander put into it.
"What hold do they have on you, youngling? Kin? Bonded? Mates? You have known nothing but their view of this. Your loyalty to those that are yours is commendable but misplaced. A true groundling mate to a Seeker would go with them into whatever might come. Seeker bonds are stronger than all other and should not be broken. A proper mate would know this. A proper mate would join you where your last kin remain."
Sarah would follow you.
The thought rose unbidden in his mind and made his Seeker part shift uneasily. Sarah would follow him, Sarah would trust he could protect them, Sarah would trust that he had his reasons, even if she didn't agree. Ratchet wouldn't and Ironhide...
Slag.
He pushed the thoughts aside roughly, felt his engines respond as well, and the shudder that followed passed all the way from his nose and to the tip of his wings.
"I made my choice, Starscream," he bit back. "Mates have nothing to do with it."
And Starscream, frag it all to the Pit, refused to rise to the bait.
"You made your choice, Seeker, and it was clearly under duress. We will see justice done, Will. Let the Prime pay for chaining any kin of mine. Let him learn to fear our kind again."
"And Megatron?" He hadn't wanted to ask but the words were out before he could stop them, a raw, nagging drive to know from his Seeker part, to understand the creature that its Air Commander obeyed, however reluctantly that might be.
"Lord Megatron understands the lure of the skies," Starscream said and echoed words Will remembered from their first go on that topic. "Warn your jailer, Seeker. The time for chains and submission is past."
The connection was dead before Will could respond, left only the half-threat, half-promise of Starscream's voice echoing through his processors, and he had thrown himself into a desperate roll before he realised what he was doing. The pitch of his engines changed in an unnatural, sickening sound as he reined himself back in those few seconds too slow, wings and engines and every joint in his body objecting to the sudden change in speed and direction, and then he was on a steady course again, only a slight tremor revealing that he was anything but perfectly calm.
"Will?" Ratchet, worried and... something else. Displeased or angry and he couldn't bring himself to care and it was all that he could do to keep his voice steady.
"Starscream." He hesitated, unwilling to look at the program to the dummy himself and focused his entire attention on the small, small necklace instead. "The dummy?"
Silence followed for a second. "Your hypothetical passenger is rattled but unharmed," Ratchet finally said. "Congratulations."
And thirty-five miles above sea level, with Starscream's voice still echoing in his mind, Will somehow didn't feel proud in the least.