Shade is woken early in the morning by a summon from Talon and is the last of the inner circle to enter the Command Center ten minutes later. He sees Hailstorm's attention shift to him as he walks in and smirks deviously at the sire while he, with swaying hips, walks over to take his seat beside Torment and across from Hailstorm.
He looks from Hailstorm to the members sitting around the table. Stampede sits beside Hailstorm, who sits on Ricochet's vacant seat, followed by Flamestrike, Quarrel and finally Overtop's empty seat on Shade's right. Their Chief Physician is present at the meeting too and is sitting on Hailstorm's usual spot on Talon's right and across from Torment. The CMO will have an important part to play and needs to be in on the general planning to delegate the medical staff to the relevant teams. With most of them being dispatched and going into active combat, the medical staff will be utilized to their fullest, which hasn't happened for a long time.
Out of the corner of his optic, he notices Hailstorm cast glances at him, and when he catches the sire doing it again, he winks at Hailstorm with a challenging smirk. He chuckles inwardly when Hailstorm responds to it by scrunching up his nasal ridge in disgust and then looks away from him, the sire purposefully focusing his full attention on Talon to avoid looking at Shade.
He rolls his optics in exasperation at the sire.
Hailstorm stubbornly refuses any of his advances and has made avoiding him an art form. Which actually is kind of cute and says a lot about the sire's prowess. However, it has made it nearly impossible for Shade to get close to the sire outside meetings between Talon and his inner circle, where Hailstorm gets forced to acknowledge his existence.
When will the sire give up this charade and finally accept that there is something between them?
He looks intensely at Hailstorm during Talon's briefing and is pleased to see a growing tinge of color on the sire's cheeks as he stares while Hailstorm's optics now and then briefly and hesitantly get drawn to look at him.
To him, that is a victory in and of itself.
It is first when Talon needs an update from Shade and draws his attention away from Hailstorm that the Second-in-Command finally gets some respite and almost slumps in his seat in relief.
"How are our guests doing, Shade?"
Shade turns his head and looks at their leader, all funny business momentarily gone as he delivers his report.
"They are coping and doing fine under the current circumstances. Nacelle woke up when you summoned me, and I had a brief conversation with him before I left them. As for their development, I see some progress in the interaction between Skywarp and Thundercracker. And Nacelle is too focused on their well-being to focus on anything else around him. He is informed about what will happen and is as invested as us in achieving success. When this meeting is over, I will allow them a freer reign of their surroundings since I can't be there with them when our operation commences."
Talon narrows his optics slightly.
"I have upgraded their clearance to include the testing range and the flight simulator. I trust Nacelle to keep to areas he knows they are allowed to be in. But if they should venture into areas outside their clearance, nothing there should pose a danger to them or us. I must say, Nacelle really surprised me when I spoke to him yesterday. I can see why you have taken such a liking to him, Shade, but remember who he is."
There is a clear warning in Talon's voice and Shade accepts the reprimand with a respectful nod, knowing that he is getting close with the three seekers.
Too close.
But he can't help himself.
Thundercracker has a way of charming people around him, and Nacelle, too, is a pleasure to be around. The green and white seeker's strength in the face of opposition is admirable. Even Skywarp, despite being more reserved and on alert, has grown on him, and now and then, he has to catch himself thinking of the three seekers as some of his subordinates.
"I will keep that in mind, sir."
Talon finishes the meeting, and they all rise and leave the command center. While the others go to complete their final preparations before departure, Shade walks back to his three charges, who still should be in recharge in their quarters.
Nacelle is still awake when Shade steps into their quarters hours later, waiting for the black and silver tank-former to return from his meeting. He rises from the berth and meets Shade halfway, looking anxiously at their protector.
"How did it go?"
The look in Shade's optics is cold and distanced, a far cry from how they usually are.
"Talon, Torment and Flux are about to depart. The rest will follow a few hours later to give them time to arrive within the Tarnian Syndicate's territory before we launch the attack full-scale. I am here to bring you to the hangar, but after that, you will be on your own. I have a lot to do in the Command Center and will not be available for the duration of the attack. Talon has updated your clearance and given all three of you access to the testing range and the flight simulator." Shade answers, his field for once devoid of any emotion.
It is so unlike how Nacelle has come to know the black and silver tank-former that the sudden change in his behavior confuses him. But he begins to understand why when they enter the endless corridors spanning the underground stronghold.
There is an almost palpable energy humming in the air and coming from those they pass on their way to the enormous hangar housing the Polyhexian Cartel's vast fleet of aircraft. As they get closer, the activity in the corridors grows exponentially, and they have a few near-collisions.
A few growls of annoyance get sent their way, but Shade firmly puts the offenders in their place.
It is peculiar to see the massively built sires visibly shrink back at the sharp rebukes from the smaller carrier.
They get to the large blast doors separating the rest of the stronghold from the hangar without further incidents. When Nacelle stares out over the vast expanse of the hangar, he sees an overwhelming influx of personnel milling about, readying the various aircraft for take-off, while frontliners of varying ranks complete their final duties before their take-off.
He quickly pinpoints the frontliners of the highest rank among the gathered groups and studies them curiously.
Thundercracker had incessantly asked questions as they walked towards their destination, clearly feeling entirely at ease in the mayhem around them with Shade at his side. And Shade had patiently answered his questions and explained the difference between the various groups making up the Polyhexian Cartel's armed forces, sporadically referring to a specific group called the elites.
They are apparently Talon's strongest and most skilled frontliners and follow the Polyhexian leader and his inner circle whenever they go into combat. Talon has a contingent of them who are solely loyal to him and whose sole purpose is to protect him in the heat of battle.
As Nacelle studies them, their intimidating look speaks for itself. They are battle-hardened veterans carrying a lethal air of superiority and are clearly viewed as idols and something to strive to become by the lower-ranking frontliners.
When Thundercracker had asked follow-up questions, curious to know more about the elites, Shade had further told them that the elites are almost on par with Torment in battle but subservient. They are not leader-material but followers and rest comfortably in their position, ready to follow Talon's commands without hesitation as a tight-knit unit.
The black and silver tank-former leads them to a section of the hangar with less activity, but from where they still have a clear view of everything that is going on around them.
"Stay here until the aircraft have taken off. Then you can do whatever you want within the range of your clearance. Do not get lost in the corridors but orientate yourselves of your whereabouts as you go. I trust you know where to find the testing range, Nacelle?"
Nacelle nods in confirmation, and Shade takes his leave to speak with a massively built sire the green and white seeker hasn't seen before.
"W-who is that?" Thundercracker asks, staring and pointing blatantly at the sire Shade is speaking to.
Skywarp pushes Thundercracker's hand down and gently reminds the blue seeker of proper conduct before Nacelle can, and Nacelle feels proud to see the interaction between the two. Skywarp is stepping up and taking more and more responsibility, and Thundercracker is listening attentively to him and learning.
"I have no idea, Thundercracker. But the way they communicate, I think it is one of Shade's closest associates, like Torment."
The activity in the hangar slowly dwindles to a point where only a few move around to finish their tasks, and it is at this point everyone else turns their focus on the blast doors leading from the hangar into the rest of the stronghold.
Moments later, Talon walks into the hangar, followed by Torment, Darksteel, Flux, and a group of twenty to thirty elites.
Nacelle's attention zeroes in on Torment, worried about the sire's mental state. But nothing in Torment's behavior indicates that he should have had a mental breakdown less than twenty-four hours ago.
In fact, he looks as confident as when Nacelle last saw him.
Talon, Torment and Darksteel walk into one aircraft while Flux and his medical team enter another, and lastly, the elite frontliners boards a third one. One after another, the aircraft take off and shoots into the tunnel to the surface, leaving the hangar in a deafening silence before activity resumes. Shade has vanished from sight at this point, and Nacelle feels vulnerable without the black and silver tank-former by his side. But they are alone and on their own until it is all over.
His thoughts wander to Prowl, and he feels an ache in his spark.
Talon and Torment's departure means his bondmate is about to enter the line of fire too. He knows Prowl can handle his own and that he has some powerful allies by his side, but he still worries deeply for him. Because not everyone is going to come back alive.
Conflicts have consequences. Battles cost lives. And all he can do is hope that this one won't claim the life of his beloved or those he has come to care for while staying with them.
He feels a hand on his shoulder and looks into Skywarp's optics.
"He will be safe," Skywarp says, an unusual confidence in his voice, and Nacelle is grateful for his support in his time of need.
"Let us go somewhere else to not be in the way." He says and leads Thundercracker and Skywarp back into the stronghold, passing by Hailstorm and the sire Shade had been talking to on the way.
The Second-in-Command bows his head slightly in respect to Nacelle as they pass, his cold optics for once less so, and Nacelle answer with a silent respectful nod of his own, feeling a small comfort in the wordless acknowledgment from the usually so distanced and hostile sire. The members of the Polyhexian Cartel might be the ones fighting on the battlefield and risking their lives, but he, too, has something at risk with Prowl at the center of the upcoming conflict. And to have that acknowledged with a rare show of respect by someone who hates him and his bondmate only makes clear the sacrifice he risks.
One step takes another, and it is first when he looks up he realizes he has led them to the door into the testing range. The door opens without prompting, their clearance having been affirmed in some way, and they step into the vast area that is equally if not greater than the hangar.
"Wow!" Skywarp exclaims, his optics studying the vast expanse of the room before them and wondering how it is possible to have something as high-ceilinged as this underground without any supporting pillars to hold the structure.
He had been as impressed by the hangar, but the hangar has supportive structures to keep the ceiling from collapsing and is not as high-ceilinged as this room.
It must have taken some serious time and diligent work to create a wonder like this, and seeing the flight simulator a distance away, his wings twitch, eager to feel the air against them again.
It has been months since he last flew, as in truly flew.
His short flight away from the Syndicate's operational headquarter in Iacon had not substituted as an actual flight because he had been too weak back then and needed to keep a low profile as he followed Shadeweaver and Nightfire to safety.
But now, he can give it everything he's got, and he is going to.
The painful reminder of Torrent and the nightmare he suffered at the megalomaniac's hands dull some of his eagerness, but he refuses to let it and Torrent affect him.
He is free and in control of his own actions.
Free to do what he pleases.
Free to love the one he loves.
Free to shape his own life.
And the life of his loved one and their offspring.
He looks at Thundercracker, feeling an ache at the fact that the blue seeker still doesn't know who he is to the sparkling he carries, but when the time comes, Thundercracker will understand.
He has to.
"Can I have the first flight?" He asks as they walk towards the flight simulator.
Nacelle looks questioningly at Thundercracker.
"You c-can," Thundercracker answers, giving Skywarp a blinding smile.
While Skywarp is in the air, Thundercracker watches him and how he twirls around in the air, sensing a strange feeling in his spark. He puts his hand on his chest over his spark and focuses on it while he keeps watching Skywarp, and slowly a certainty begins to form, whispering to him from the depths of his innermost.
He narrows his optics, confusion filling him as it contradicts logic, but Hotspot and Nacelle have told him to always listen to his spark and what it tells him and trust it.
When Skywarp lands, Nacelle offers the next turn to Thundercracker. But Thundercracker convinces the green and white seeker to go first, reassuring Nacelle that he and Skywarp will be fine on their own while Nacelle is in the air. And when Nacelle is in the flight simulator, Thundercracker slowly inches closer and closer to Skywarp, all his senses focused on what he can sense coming from the black and purple seeker, trying to make reason out of confusion. But when that doesn't turn out to be enough, he sets aside any pretense and places his hand firmly on Skywarp's chestplates, startling him.
"Thundercracker, what are you-"
He shushes Skywarp with a stern pointed look and focuses on the pulse of the spark behind the chestplates and the feelings the sensation stirs within his spark. On pure instinct, he takes Skywarp's hand and places it against his own chestplates.
It feels so right in a way he doesn't understand, but slowly understanding does dawn, and Thundercracker looks up at Skywarp with certainty in his spark, seeing the black and purple seeker with new optics.
"I remem-b-ber the feel of your s-spark against m-mine."
He moves Skywarp's hand down to the tiny bulge in his midsection, feeling how Skywarp tenses and seems to fight against himself as if afraid to touch it.
Grief and loss overwhelm Skywarp's field, and Thundercracker reaches soothingly out with his own, trying to ease the distress. And finally, Skywarp oh-so-gently rests his hand against the bulge, awe filling his field as he senses the budding life growing within Thundercracker. And with his keen reading of Skywarp's field, Thundercracker comes to a new confusing realization, his instincts screaming loudly at him.
"You a-are the Sire to m-y s-spark-ling."
Not Torrent, but Skywarp.
He frowns at the unwavering certainty he feels in his spark at the statement and remains lost in thought with Skywarp's hand held against his midsection, trying to make sense of it all.
Skywarp doesn't know what to say or do in the face of the factual statement from Thundercracker. He doesn't even know how to react to the fact he is touching the bulge of his sparkling. His Sire protocols roar within him, Thundercracker's acknowledgment of him as the Sire causing them to go in haywire.
When Nacelle comes down for landing, he immediately senses something significant has happened.
Thundercracker is standing with his hand on Skywarp's chest and seems to be in a state of deep thought, while Skywarp has his hand on Thundercracker's midsection and looks shocked and absolutely dumbfounded.
He approaches slowly, looking between them and meets Skywarp's optics, silently asking if the black and purple seeker is okay.
Skywarp shakes his head slowly, tears starting to fall from his optics, and Nacelle touches his shoulder gently, getting a sense of his field.
A sense of pure chaos greets him, and he communicates non-verbally over the field with Skywarp to not disturb Thundercracker and the process the blue seeker seems to be undergoing at the moment.
Something vital has happened between Thundercracker and Skywarp while he was in the flight simulator, and he is afraid to disrupt it in any way.
When Skywarp conveys what had happened between him and Thundercracker, Nacelle can barely believe it, and hope fills his spark as he sets to calm the black and purple seeker.
It is a welcome distraction from his own troubled thoughts as they wait for any news from the world outside.