-Skywarp has just fled from Thundercracker.- Torment receives from Shade, and he can practically hear the curse in the message.
-I'll handle it. Just focus on Nacelle and Thundercracker.-
He puts the documents he had been working on in the drawer and locks it before he rises from his desk.
::Surveillance on Skywarp.:: He demands.
::Currently running down corridor 9-F. Do you want me to send out an alert, Sir?::
::No. I'll handle it. If anyone calls in, tell them not to engage.::
Skywarp is spooked enough as it is. It is best to keep it low-key to not worsen the situation.
He walks down corridor 9-F a few minutes later, and the sentinels he meets on his way guide him to where Skywarp is hiding.
A sentinel stands outside Weapon Storage Delta and gestures to the door.
He nods in thanks and dismisses the guard.
Opening the door, he steps inside and surveys the room. Shelving systems with armaments fill the whole room, and he calmly searches it until he finds what he is looking for.
Skywarp sits on a missile crate with his wings lowered and looks down at the floor.
"Do you mind if I join you?" He asks casually, stepping forward slowly.
Skywarp looks up in surprise but doesn't say a word.
Torment takes the silence as acceptance and sits down on his own missile crate, looking calmly at Skywarp. They sit there in companionable silence, and Skywarp once again looks down at the floor as tears slowly begin to fall from his optics, seemingly so affected by whatever had happened that he doesn't care if Torment sees that sign of weakness.
Torment's optics soften.
The more he interacts with them, the more he gets used to communicating with the civilians, and now he finds himself in a situation where he needs to put all of those new social communication skills to good use.
"What happened, Skywarp?"
Skywarp looks up, meeting his optics, but doesn't seem to be able to find any words, and the tears begin to flow faster until he completely breaks down and sobs violently.
Torment hesitates at the unfamiliar situation but then silently berates himself for his squeamishness and leans forward to embrace Skywarp awkwardly. Skywarp leans readily into him, and his embrace becomes more firm and confident.
"I have lost him." Skywarp sobs brokenly.
"You have not lost him. He is still in there somewhere." Torment contradicts as gently as he can, uncertain if he should do more than just hold the seeker as Skywarp cries against his shoulder. He has often seen Nacelle touch Thundercracker soothingly between the wings and even along their surface, but it feels too private for him to do so without explicit consent from Skywarp. "You just have to give him the time he needs to find back to you."
He never imagined he would be the one to give romantic advice, not after what happened between him and Athena. He is far from an expert on the area and can only hope that Skywarp will get some use out of his advice.
Skywarp's tears continue to flow freely for a while longer, but they slowly dry up as he exhausts himself.
Torment releases him, and Skywarp leans back, looking at the lethal sire. He sees a glimmer of emotion in Torment's optics before the sire clams up again and becomes stoic.
"Feeling better?"
He nods, grateful for Torment's calm, laidback approach.
"Then I think it is time to find somewhere safer to talk."
Skywarp looks around him, first now realizing where he is. And he abruptly rises when he reads the label on the crate he is sitting on. He stares at the countless other crates and containers around him and shudders when he realizes what they contain.
Of all the places he could find, he found a weapon storage. Which honestly shouldn't be that surprising considering who Torment and his people are.
He follows Torment out of the weapons storage and down a few corridors before Torment unlocks a door and waits for him to enter. His gaze sweeps the room, noticing the intriguing curios adorning the walls in the sparsely furnished room with a desk against the farthest wall. A closed door to his right leads into another room.
He sits down in the chair in front of the desk as Torment moves around it and sits down behind it. Torment leans back with a relaxed expression, studying him intently. The sire's optics are sharp, analytical and thoughtful, and Skywarp would have felt on edge at the speculative look in them if he hadn't just spent time crying on the sire's shoulder. Suddenly, the optics go distant, as if Torment's attention is elsewhere, possibly receiving a communication, but the sire's attention returns to Skywarp after a moment.
"When all of this is over, you will get your warp-gate back." Torment suddenly says, surprising Skywarp with the choice of topic. "The director of the Joint Investigation Unit is not comfortable with criminals possessing such technology. And I tend to agree with him on that point. You, however, need this ability. It is a part of your identity. Who you are."
"You possess the technology."
"I did, but not anymore." Torment answers calmly, but his calm demeanor gradually changes as his optics go distant as he recalls what clearly must be a rather unpleasant memory. "I had a severe falling out with some of my former colleagues that nearly cost me my life. The surgeons had to remove the warp-gate to save my life. And to be honest, I don't miss it, despite the benefits."
Torment's optics are narrowed and hateful at this point, his whole demeanor changed, and Skywarp feels ill at ease at the hate he now senses radiate in choking waves from the lethal sire's field.
But just as fast as it came, just as fast does Torment get his feelings under control, and the hate recedes and becomes close to nothing when the lethal sire's attention returns to Skywarp, his demeanor not calm but more neutral and guarded.
"As you can see, you are not the only one who has suffered at the hands of Torrent and survived. We have a lot in common, you and I."
It takes Skywarp by surprise to feel how Torment's hatred towards Torrent channels into him, empowering and strengthening him in ways he never could have imagined.
Torment is right.
They have a lot in common.
Their need for vengeance against the one who has hurt them so much. And they will stop at nothing to bring him to justice.
No matter what.
The notion flows in both their fields and links them together.
What Skywarp had believed impossible has become possible because of Torment.
He can finally avenge what has happened to Thundercracker.
He nods imperceptibly in agreement, and Torment gives him a fierce smile that promises pain.
Thundercracker moves to follow Skywarp when the black and purple seeker flees from the hanger, but Shade prevents him from doing it, holding him back with a firm grip on his arm.
Why did the black and purple seeker flee?
What did he do wrong?
Tears fill his optics, and Shade embraces him while whispering soothing nonsense.
"It is okay, Thundercracker."
Nacelle is there too, rubbing soothingly up and down his back, the green and white seeker's field swamping him with calm.
The soft hushing slowly calms him down, and he leans out of Shade's embrace to lean into Nacelle instead. Seeking understanding.
Nacelle nods, thankful to Shade for his rapid reaction. He is not sure he would have been able to hold Thundercracker back on his own, and it would have worsened the situation if Thundercracker had followed after Skywarp.
"I have alerted Torment about the situation. He will handle Skywarp."
"Thank you, Shade," Nacelle says with a grateful smile, trusting Torment to care for his wayward client while he handles Thundercracker.
"Why did he go?" Thundercracker asks Nacelle, sounding miserable.
"Do you remember that I told you that he is sad because you can't remember him?" Nacelle asks softly.
Thundercracker looks up, meeting Nacelle's optics, and nods after a little while.
"It looks like he couldn't cope with what he saw in you and that your meeting was too early for him," Nacelle explains, gently cleaning away a running tear from Thundercracker's face and smiling reassuringly at him. "Because of your lost memories, your personality is different, and you behave differently from the Thundercracker he used to know. It affects him this strongly because he liked the one you once were and feels conflicted about what to feel about who you are now."
Nacelle hugs Thundercracker firmly, sensing the growing distress at his words.
"But that is okay." He murmurs soothingly into the blue seeker's audial. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't like you, only that he needs time to accept that you at the moment aren't the one he used to know."
When Torment and Skywarp, after a few hours, walk into the hangar and over to them, Thundercracker immediately focuses his full attention on Skywarp but firmly keeps himself in check, understanding now that Skywarp needs to be the one to initiate contact when he is ready for it.
"We had a talk, sire to sire, and Skywarp feels more at ease now." Torment says to break the tense silence, his optics filling with an uncommon warmth as he watches Skywarp hesitantly move over to Thundercracker to initiate contact with the blue seeker.
Black and blue wings begin to move in silent communication, and Torment hides his fond smile within his spark. He has done what he can for Skywarp. Now the rest is up to Nacelle.