Chapter 13

"Do I have to get the usual spiel about the dangers of the operation?" Skywarp asked as Mixmaster checked over her armor for medical uplinks.

Wings fluttering as he hit a sensitive spot, she squirmed miserably. It was bad enough that Soundwave was growling like an angry bulldog in the corner of the medical bay because Hook wasn't about to let him attack his team, but now she had two medics; Mixmaster and Scavenger; unintentionally feeling her up in search of medical ports.

"Shouldn't you have all the ports on record?" she grumbled as Scavenger's fingers shuffled nervously over her thigh.

"Your armor's overgrown some of them," Hook replied as he checked over the datapads carefully set out in front of him. "Unless you know of a way to find them without forcing you to flare every piece of your armor and promptly embarrass you?"

"Nope," Skywarp sighed before yipping. "Hey, hey! Watch the wings!"

"The armor's dented," Mixmaster grumbled. "Soundwave's being rough again?"

"My interface life is none of your business," she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, looking all the part like a petulant sparkling.

Mixmaster chuckled as he found the last medical port on her back and gently hooked a cable to it. She shivered at the spreading cold from the hook-up, muttering unhappily as she heard her systems beeping across one of the screens behind her. Her wings fluttered again as Scavenger found the port on her ankle. She gave him a pointed look, making sure that he understood how little she appreciated being felt up.

"That the last one, Scavenger?" Hook asked. "Good. Skywarp, you can lie down now. Regardless of how little you care for the medical things, I'm obligated to tell you. There is some danger in the operation and there is a chance that you won't survive it. Crippling is rare, but it has occurred in some Seekers."

"I know," Skywarp huffed. "As is permanent grounding because of who my carrier is, chronic fear of heights, claustrophobia to the umpteenth degree, agoraphobia, fear of touch, fear of not being touched, extreme sensitivity to heat and cold; can we get this done please?"

"Mouthy," Hook commented as he shook his head and hooked up the first package of data. "At least it's safe to know that some things don't change. Soundwave, you can come closer only if you swear you will not interfere no matter what happens. Where is Thundercracker?"

"Patrol," Soundwave replied as he walked over and dutifully took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Return should coincide with third data-transfer."

"I'll make sure no one's standing on her other side then," Hook snorted as he began the first transfer. "Just relax, Skywarp; this isn't going to be comfortable at your age."

Doing her best to follow instructions, Skywarp rested her head back on the berth. The first bit of data was easily processed, stored into the appropriate files within her processor. Then the first wave of altering data filtered in and her processor flipped out. She cringed in agony as her wings flared straight out to either side of her and the coding rolled like fire through her circuits. She bit down on her derma as she arched in agony, feeling the metal expanding and shifting to meet the demands.

"Easy," Hook soothed as she rested against the berth again. "Easy."

"Ow," she whimpered.

"I warned you," Hook shook his head as the next bit of data filtered through.

Joors passed. It felt like an eternity. Hook went impossibly slow with the upgrades, waiting as her chassis forcibly twisted itself around to fit the new data commands. The agony was unbelievable and she was not ashamed that she eventually stopped trying to hold in her screams. Soundwave was beside himself with fear and fury, but she tightening grip on his hand kept him still. She needed him to stay right where he was so that she did not panic and look around for him.

Thundercracker showed up half-way through the third dataset, gripping her free hand just as a new set of wings started growing from her back. Her optics offlined, leaving her to pant in darkness as her chassis tried furiously to recover from the pain. She heard the screens going crazy behind her and Hook shouting for Long Haul to do something. Soundwave's grip on her hand tightened and his panic lashed against her mind.

She felt her spark stutter inside of her, threatening to collapse in on itself. She wanted to thrash and fight, but every last fuel reserve had been used up. The commotion in the medbay began to dim, letting her float on a strange wave away from it. It was strangely peaceful, filling her with a calm that had not existed since before the war. She let out a soft sigh of delight as she willingly began to sink into the calm.

"Giving up already?" a familiar voice teased. "That's not like you, little Sky-reacher."

"Coder?" Skywarp tried to ask, but her mouth felt dislocated from her face. She reached blindly above her, searching for the source of the voice.

A hand that was much larger than hers found her in the darkness. Even without her sight she could see the familiar smile. Tears built in her optics as the mech pulled her out of the calm and held her close.

"Coder," she whimpered softly. "I miss you so much."

"I know, my little Sky-reacher," he soothed. "But I'm not ready to see you again, no matter how much I love you. Don't give up so easily. The pain is horrendous, I know, but the payoff will be worth it."

"I didn't know I'd look so different," Skywarp whispered. "Did you see me? It doesn't even look like me anymore. I don't…how can I adjust to something so drastic?"

"You're Ratchet sparkling; you'll be fine," he insisted. "Besides, you look good with those extra wings. Now get back to your chassis before your poor trinemates offline in fright."

Smiling weakly, she nuzzled his face, wishing there was some way to bring him back with her. His strength mingled with her own as she floated down to her chassis. The screens were going haywire, screaming their status out as her chassis battled with staying online. She drew hot air into her intakes and onlined her optics briefly.

Hook caught her optic as the screens calmed down. It was hard to tell if he was more likely to hug her in relief or slap her for giving everyone a spark attack. Her coder's laugh filled her audios and she felt tears trickle down her face.

"Sorry," she murmured weakly. "Please continue."

Hook shared a worried look with her trinemates, but started the transfer up again. The pain did not lessen, but she could hold her way through it. By the end of the orn, the transfer was complete and she was allowed to lie on the berth with a steady drip of energon in her arm while the Constructicons unhooked her. Soundwave stroked her helm repeatedly, his mind pressing down on her and trying to worm his way further to feel better about her current state. Thundercracker was crouched on her other side, her hand pressed against his mouth as he kissed her knuckles reassuringly.

"I feel like slag," Skywarp groaned. She yipped at the sound of her own voice, blinking rapidly in alarm. "Holy slag! I sound like liquid interface!"

Thundercracker laughed softly as he got the go ahead from Hook and helped her sit up. "That is going to take some getting used to, Warp," he agreed. "Soundwave, did you fritz out on me?"

Turning her head slowly, Skywarp lifted an optic ridge at him. He was stiff and unresponsive, not that it was an unusual thing for Soundwave to do, he was just oddly unmoving. Slowly, he crouched down and cupped Skywarp's cheek in his hand. Skywarp was alarmed by how small his hand felt on her face and swallowed a little. He rested his forehead against hers and sighed gently.

"Primus," he breathed. "I was so worried about you."

"I know, I'm sorry," Skywarp soothed. "Anyway I can make it up to you?"

Soundwave gave her a pointed look through his visor before he pulled her arm across his shoulders and helped her to her feet. "We are lying in our room all day and I am lying on top of you and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

Skywarp smiled and nuzzled him gently as she let her trinemates lead her out of the medbay. Hanging from their shoulders, she was stunned by how much bigger she was than them. It was alarming and she felt a little silly for it. Nuzzling Thundercracker curiously, she tipped her head to the side.

"So, how does it feel to be smaller than me?" she teased.

"Strange; I was always the tall one," Thundercracker chuckled. "Now we'll look funny with a short trineleader."

Soundwave turned to glare at him, but the knowing smirk on his face was enough to dampen any anger in Soundwave's spark. He steered them towards the berth as the door to their quarters opened, refusing to let Skywarp lie down on her own. Huffing as her wings trembled in pain, Skywarp squirmed and held her trinemates close as they cuddled.

"No," Starscream glared up at Skywarp's new form. "No, that's not fair and I refuse to accept it. There is no way that he can be that tall!"

Skywarp preened a little as he; oh how happy he was that he could finally refer to himself as "he"; towered over his older sibling. Starscream's wings fluttered furiously as he glared up at Skywarp, ignoring Megatron's smirk as he sat contently on his throne with Skyfire leaning over the side.

"Not an illusion, dear brother," Skywarp cooed as he flicked his lower wings. "Not entirely sure where the coding came from, but I am not complaining! Besides, I'm nowhere near Skyfire's height."

"He has a point," Skyfire chuckled as he moved to comfort the bristly Starscream. "Calm down; he was bound to be big."

"But it's not fair! And he has four wings; why the slag does he need four wings?" Starscream whined, crossing his arms angrily over his chest.

Skywarp fluttered his upper wings happily as Thundercracker shook his head. Soundwave glanced over briefly from his monitor and Skywarp flared a lower wing to show off. He felt a brief flare of emotion from his mind and it was a fight to keep from grinning as widely as he wanted to.

"You will likely need a new alt mode," Megatron commented dryly. "Will you need someone to accompany you?"

"I'll take Thundercracker with me," Skywarp shrugged. "We'll be alright. The Autobots shouldn't be able to follow us and are not likely to attack with an unknown Seeker trotting around."

"Very well," Megatron nodded.

Nodding, Skywarp turned to Starscream and hugged him tightly. Tucker his head against his sibling's audio, he smiled.

"Coder came to me when I was fading," he murmured softly. "He gave me the strength to continue."

"Good to know he's still watching over us," Starscream sighed softly, nuzzling his head affectionately. "Now get going, you great big idiot."

Rolling his optics in amusement, Skywarp headed for the launch deck. Thundercracker took off with him, flying beside him even though his frame ached from the too-small alt mode. Flying over an airfield, Skywarp took careful stock of the available alt modes. Scanning one of the larger jets, he teleported to the other side of the airfield as the humans started firing on them.

"Want to give them a run?" Skywarp called to Thundercracker.

"Try not to kill anyone; just blow up their jets," Thundercracker called back.

Whooping in delight, Skywarp flipped over and flew close to the ground. His weapons fired, ripping their flimsy jets apart with a single passing. The humans fled, firing at his underside with their weak weapon. Frowning, Skywarp teleported to Thundercracker's side and transformed.

"They aren't equipped with weapons to hurt us," he commented. "I think something's up."

"Bots?" Thundercracker asked as he unfolded from his jet form and looked around.

"Not sure," Skywarp admitted as he started scanning.

A loud whoop echoed before something dropped onto his shoulders. Snarling, Skywarp started shaking and dropped, flipping over to aim at the ground. Sunstreaker's chassis dangled below him and flailed his arms as he tried to bend himself enough to take a swipe at his face. Growling, Skywarp stopped his descent and crossed his arms moodily across his chest.

"Really?" he demanded. "Really? I come here for an alt mode and the best mode of attack you can think of is dropping on my shoulders? Your attacks suck, Golden Boy."

"What did you just call me?" Sunstreaker growled furiously.

Rolling his optics, Skywarp teleported to the ground and smirked at the pleasant crunch as Sunstreaker took all of his new weight. Rolling away, he sat up and flicked his new wings in amusement as he watched Sunstreaker roll over and groan in pain. The dirt ground into his bright yellow paint was going to be a pain to get out later and Skywarp wished that he had a camera to watch.

"What in the world?" Sunstreaker groaned as he looked up at him. "Skywarp?"

"Really, is it that hard to believe?" Skywarp teased as he got to his feet and flicked his wings. "But really, you suck at your attack. Rethink it."

Sunstreaker gawked at him as he looked up to see how Thundercracker was faring. Sideswipe was dangling from his foot and clinging for all his worth as Thundercracker darted back and forth. Rolling his optics in amusement, Skywarp took to the sky and made a beeline for his trinemate. The annoyance on his face was adorable and Skywarp was tempted to kiss him before ridding him of the little red tag-along. Smirking at Sideswipe, he picked him up by the scruff and gave him a gentle shake.

"Don't you know that fighting Seekers is dangerous for your health?" he taunted before dropping Sideswipe. "Oh, say hello to the ground for me!"

"You claim to be smart but you act the exact same as ever," Thundercracker teased as he moved closer and nuzzled him gently. "Let's get back to base before reinforcement shows up."

Taking Thundercracker's hand, he teleported them back to base. Slumping contently on his shoulder, Skywarp grinned dumbly.

"Oh look, I just used up all of my energy reserves," he cooed. "Could you be a doll and carry me back to our room?"

Thundercracker chuckled as he wrapped a hand around his waist and started walking. Purring happily, Skywarp pushed his face into Thundercracker's neck and nuzzled the cables as they walked.

"Love you," he whispered gently. "Just thought I'd let you know."

Thundercracker chuckled softly and turned to kiss him. "Love you too, Skywarp," he cooed.