Chapter Text
In the dusk lighting from atop the tallest spire they could find, Scourge gazed out over the fortress-like city beside his companion.
The moment that Galvatron had parted from the group, Scourge had come up with an excuse of his own and slipped away to find his brother. Lucky for him, it didn’t take him as much effort as he thought it would have. Red Blade was only just leaving the arena when Scourge approached to check. A brief greeting was exchanged along with an offer to hang out for a time.
They had decided to perch in this particular spot for some much desired privacy. They hadn’t said a word since Red Blade had led them to this spire, taking in the scenery in comfortable silence while they collected their thoughts. Scourge thought he would have to be the one to break it, but he was mildly surprised when Red Blade spoke first.
“We didn’t get to talk much about personal matters when you first sought me out. How is Cyclonus, then?”
The rough blue mech shrugged his broad shoulders briefly. “Slightly stressed, but he’s holding up. Adjusting well enough to life in the castle and his new role.”
“Running himself ragged for Galvatron’s sake, no doubt,” Red Blade grunted disapprovingly, his gaze hardening slightly. “Tch… Well, what of you? I trust you’re being more sensible.”
“I serve as the head of our military forces in Kaon. It’s my job to make sure our forces are keeping up with training, that the city is secure and well-guarded, and to organize said forces as is necessary,” Scourge rehearsed.
“Those are not your words,” his companion immediately declared with certainty.
“They are Starscream’s,” the blue flight frame admitted. “He had me repeat them over and over until he was satisfied that I wouldn’t forget.”
A thick silence fell between them, neither daring to make optic contact with the other.
“What is Starscream like?” Red Blade finally uttered in a soft tone. “I left so quickly, I didn’t have the time to find out for myself.”
Scourge had to think about that one. What was it that his brother was expecting him to answer with? “He is strict,” he slowly listed off. “Pretentious. Full of himself. Loud. And a tad cowardly. However… he is skilled and intelligent. And I have heard he can be mindful and compassionate. I have yet to see it, though.”
The crimson-and-white jet hummed his acknowledgement.
“…Is he anything like how you hoped?” the blue mech probed.
Red Blade was silent for half a second, the only sound coming from him being that of him drawing an intake in preparation to speak while he hesitated. “I’m… not sure,” he admitted. “I’m not sure what I was hoping he’d be like.” After another second of hesitation, he turned the question around. “What about you? Did you have hopes for Thundercracker?”
Scourge shook his head. “No. I was curious and looked for similarities, but I didn’t have any expectations or preconceived notions. I did find some similarities, but ultimately discovered that we two were both different enough. I am me. And he is him. If that makes any sense.” He finally turned to peer at his companion. “And the same goes for the rest of you,” he added.
Red Blade peered into his optics with quiet contemplation before eventually giving him a slow nod of understanding. “I… missed this,” he uttered with sheepish softness. “Our discussions. Your company. I want to bring you with me on my journey, but I need someone I can rely on to keep watch of Galvatron for me.”
Scourge’s wings slowly flexed up and down as he fixed him with a torn stare. “If you would just come back—” he started, only for his brother to cut him off firmly.
“No. I cannot afford to sit still when our torturers are still out there. Especially not with our ‘master’ on the way… I have to make sure this planet is prepared to deal with the impending catastrophe. I told you I have a lead. The old mech is odd, but as far as I can tell, his intel and intent are legitimate. If Galvatron wants to stew in his denial, then fine, but I’m going to do something about all this.”
The previous morning, Red Blade had told him about discovering a set of ancient buried ruins… and an old grey-and-maroon mech claiming to be a Prime tending to them. Scourge wasn’t so sure, but he hadn’t met him, so he just had to accept Red Blade’s assessment of the situation. Actually… perhaps that was something he could question the princeling about. Being the offspring of a Prime, he ought to know all sorts of things about other Primes, one would think.
“I’m going to do another few laps around the city,” Red Blade suddenly declared. “See if I can find Megatron out and about. He has to be here.”
Again, Scourge wasn’t so sure, but Red Blade’s dedication and determination were two of the traits that the blue mech admired about him, so he wasn’t about to stand in the way. “Very well. I’ll catch up with you later then,” he bade. “Let me know if you find him. And… good luck in the tournament.”
The jet scoffed and flashed him a cocky smirk. “Not a single opponent has managed to put me in a bad spot yet. I think it is them that will need the luck,” he replied. He then gave Scourge a tiny salute, turned his back to the edge of the spire, then slowly leaned backwards, letting himself fall off and plummet a ways head first before swooping into a level soar and flying off into the distance.
[Perspective Change]
Skywarp was absolutely brimming with energy after watching the performance today. The show of skill had been an absolute blast to watch! Blitzwing had trounced his third and fourth opponents so thoroughly, going so far as to whip out his staple move of barraging his opponent from the air in plane mode before transforming into a tank overhead to suddenly drop on top of them and crush them under his treads! It never failed to get Skywarp’s turbines going. The results of today’s bracket promised even more fun fights tomorrow, with Blitzwing pitted up against Motormaster, that Lyzack femme against Red Blade, and that cocky Gaihawk against Brawl, who surprisingly held up his own this long despite not being the most coordinated with strategies. The dark seeker suspected Onslaught’s interference there, but he wasn’t about to complain.
And now that he was all hyped up, he was going to round out this fun day by winning a bet! The black-and-purple seeker flicked a sideways glance at the princeling striding at his side, sandwiched by that whiny mentor and Skywarp himself, with Thundercracker taking the other side of the minibot. Here was not the place, and certainly not the time with Gears and Thundercracker present. How to get them away so Skywarp could carry out his plan?
It was as he was deeply pondering this issue that he let his gaze wander the hall they were striding through. And as it wandered, he spotted one of the younger offspring of Deathsaurus and Esmeral. And then a scheming grin broke across his face as a rather clever idea came to mind, if he did say so himself. Carefully so that the others didn’t notice and grow suspicious, Skywarp slowed his gait ever-so-slightly so that he fell behind the others in his group, then he waved insistently at the youth until he caught her attention.
With a confused look, she shifted course to catch up to him and peer up into his optics with intent, barely coming up to his elbow joints. “What’s up, Mr. Seeker?” she asked.
Skywarp knelt down and raised a hand to cover the side of his mouth so he could whisper, “Hey, wanna make a quick shanix? I’ll give ya ten if you can keep a couple bots distracted for me.”
The young bot bobbed her head back and forth with disinterest. “I don’t really need shanix. Mama and Papa have a lot,” she pointed out. “What about snacks? Do you have any good ones?”
Skywarp grumbled quietly as he popped open his subspace and rifled around for something to offer. Megatronus, why were kids hard to bribe? Surely he had something snack related or mundane he could give up. Handheld console… No way. Shanix… Said she didn’t want. Datapad… Oh shoot, that was Thundercracker’s; he’d have to give that back soon. “Uhhhh… I got a packet of rust sticks?” he tried, pulling out the unopened packet and holding it in front of her.
The young bot tilted her head as she stared at the packet with curious interest. “Rust sticks? I haven’t had those before. What do they taste like? Can I try one?”
The purple seeker shot a glance over his shoulder at where his group had gone. They had rounded a corner and were now out of sight, seemingly none-the-wiser to his pit stop. Figuring he could chance giving the kid a taste, he ripped open the packet and pulled a stick out for her.
Deathsaurus’ offspring delicately took the rust stick pinched between his fingers and looked it over before giving it a lick, then a small bite, really drawing out the tasting process. After chewing a couple times, she screwed up her face and Skywarp was sure she was going to pass up the offer. “This tastes really weird. I’ve never had anything like it,” she uttered, squinting at the bitten stick with consideration before she finally peered up at the seeker again and nodded. “Okay. Deal.”
The black-and-purple seeker almost recoiled, but he wasn’t about to pass this up. Not keen on wasting more time, he handed over the rest of the packet and got to his feet. “Follow me. I’ll show ya.” It was a short jaunt before his group came back into view ahead of them, but as soon as they had, Skywarp leaned over to whisper as he pointed at them, “See them? I want ya to ask ‘em if they want a tour of the castle. Give ‘em, like… a history lesson or something. I dunno. The two bots you definitely want following you are the red-and-blue minibot and the blue seeker. Got that?”
The young bot had peered at the group with a perplexed look on her face. “Um… Yeah, I guess I got it…” she mumbled slowly. “But… how long do I have to do this?”
“Not long,” Skywarp replied unhelpfully.
“Ten minutes? Fifteen?” the kid pressed.
“I dunno! Ten!” the seeker exclaimed as quietly as possible, exasperation flaring up at being asked for unnecessary numbers. “Just do ten, that should be long enough.”
“And why a history lesson?”
The prankster had to bite back a groan at all the questions. “It doesn’t hafta be, it was just something I threw out there! Look, the minibot’s a teacher. Okay? And the seeker reads stories a lot. They’ll like that sorta thing. Now come on, let’s go.”
Promptly, he strode forward to discourage any more stupid, delaying questions, rejoining the group with his accomplice in tow.
It was as they got close that Thundercracker at last turned and noticed that Skywarp wasn’t where he had been before, at which point he stopped and twisted around, catching sight of the approaching bots and cocking an optic ridge at them. “Made a new friend, did you?” he quipped flatly.
“Yeah, she’s not so bad,” Skywarp replied, putting on as innocent an air about him as he could. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff she knows about the castle. Neat scrap.”
As the Autobots stopped to direct their attentions back at them as well, TC squinted at his brother with suspicion. “You don’t care about that,” he called out bluntly. “You’ve never cared about that.”
The dark seeker widened his optics slightly with indignation in an attempt to sell his performance. “Hey, I’m serious here! It’s really cool!” He then turned his head to peer at the young bot and gestured for her to do her thing. “Go on, kid, tell ‘em about the cool stuff,” he prompted, praying to the thirteen Primes that she knew how to act.
The kid screwed up her face with thought before finally saying, “Well, we’ve got a little museum-type thing that shows off a bit of Papa’s history and friendship with Commander Star Saber.”
It would have to do. Skywarp gestured to her as he peered back at the Autobots and his brother. “See??” he insisted. “History about two great warriors! I bet they got up to all sorts of things together! We’ve still got some time left in the day! We could go take a look.”
“A museum, huh?” Gears mused with a soft frown, raising a hand to rub a couple fingers against his chin. “Might be a good learning experience…”
“Yeah, exactly!” the dark seeker agreed, ignoring the harsh glare his blue brother was throwing at him. He knew what this was about. But the thing was, if he really cared about stopping it, he would have called him out on his hijinks already. They’d been through this before. Skywarp knew how to leave Thundercracker out of it so he didn’t get caught in the crossfire.
“Tell you what, Gears,” the prince rasped, looking as weary as he sounded. Which meant getting him to snap might just be easier to do. “If you wanna go ahead with the guys, I’ll listen to everything you have to say about it when you get back.”
The minibot’s frown solidified slightly as he turned to peer up at his charge. “Are you now?” he probed with disbelief. “You’re not just saying that? If you zone out while I’m talking, I’m going to start all over until you’ve got it memorized.”
“I promise I’ll take it in,” Rodimus sighed. “I just need a nap.”
“So you’re not going along, sir?” Skywarp checked with as innocent a tone as he could manage, flicking his wings for good measure. “Oh well. I guess there’s nothing for it. Thundercracker, I know how much you like this kinda thing, so you should go with Gears. I’ll stay and watch over our prince.”
TC said nothing aloud, instead fixing him with a fiery gaze while silently mouthing, “Do. NOT. Do it. I. Will. KILL YOU.”
“That’s decided then,” the dark seeker said decidedly with a smile, shifting to gently usher the young bot beside him—now munching on a rust stick—toward the minibot and his brother. “You three have fun and tell us all about it when you get back.”
The kid took the hint and began leading them away, chatting with Gears about this and that as they strolled. Which left just him and the hoity toity brat…
Skywarp turned to the prince to continue his facade, but his smile dropped as he saw that Rodimus had resumed walking away without him. Geesh, the kid was really in a rut. The seeker quickly caught up and fell in place beside him, flicking his gaze from the prince to the castle interior, trying not to appear suspicious too early. Now, to figure out what buttons to push to get the brat to snap…
“Hell of a tournament so far, huh, prince?” he started off with a casual tone.
All he got was a grunt in acknowledgement.
The dark seeker’s wings twitched ever-so-slightly as he pressed, “Blitzwing’s been knockin’ it outta the ring so far. Really putting the beat down on his opponents.”
The kid only grunted, “I’m sure you’re proud.”
The corners of Skywarp’s mouth curled downwards while he resisted the urge to narrow his optics. This hoity toity geek was usually so damn chatty! And now he didn’t want to? Megatronus’ mask, why did this kid have to give him so much grief?!
He stewed in his thoughts as they walked, wracking his mind for some way to get the Autobot to cooperate just enough for this stunt to work. It wasn’t until they reached the guestroom they were staying in and shut the door to give them some privacy that Skywarp tried again.
“What’s on your mind?”
Rodimus didn’t look at him as he moved toward the charging unit he’d previously claimed. “I’m just tired.”
“Ugh, bull slag,” the dark seeker scoffed as he placed his hands on his hips, growing evermore impatient. “You were acting all weird last night. Obviously, something’s got you in a fix.”
“And obviously I don’t want to talk about it,” Rodimus rebutted, stopping to slightly turn back and glare at the nosey seeker. “Besides, what do you care? You probably just want to pick another fight with whatever you learn.”
Skywarp’s wings flicked upward as he gained a shocked and furious expression. “Thundercracker actually told you?!” he blurted out with indignance. That fragging snitch! He’d never done that in the past!
At this, the prince narrowed his optics, gaining a dangerous look the seeker never thought he’d see on him. If it weren’t what Skywarp wanted, he would have actually been slightly intimidated. How had this little twerp nailed that kind of look? “Told me what?” the young Autobot growled as he fully turned to stare down the retainer.
Well, it looked like TC hadn’t actually snitched… But still, continuing this exchange would definitely get Skywarp his results. He may as well just go all in. “That I was gonna pick a fight with ya! He was all upset about it, but I didn’t think he’d tell ya!”
“Primus almighty, Skywarp!” Rodimus erupted, his plating tightening, his teeth clenching against each other so hard they could have ground themselves down. “What is your problem?! Do you even realize just how immature you are?!”
“So what?” the retainer sneered down at him. “You gonna give me another holy sermon? Work to brainwash me into being an Autobot like your piston head of a sire wants?”
The prince’s hands curled into rigid fists, his optics flaring up with righteous fury. “My dad is not brainwashing people! Don’t you dare bring him into this, because you don’t know a damn thing!” he snarled protectively.
Bingo. There was the mark. “Of course you’d say that,” Skywarp goaded, stepping toward Rodimus and leaning down to peer into his optics with a cocky smirk. “Being daddy’s little mech, I bet he’s crafted you into the perfect tool for his Autobot schemes. I bet that’s why you’re even here in the first place! You’re not here to conjunx Galvatron! You’re Prime’s personal spy—”
Skywarp only caught a flash of grey and orange color as a fist suddenly and solidly slammed into his faceplates, effectively breaking his nose and making his vision glitch for a moment as his head snapped back, forcing him to stagger backwards a couple paces. When his sight blinked back on, Rodimus was stood in front of where Skywarp had been before, clutching his hand with a still livid, yet now pained expression.
“You’re pathetic, Skywarp,” the Autobot hissed shakily. “I know what your problem is. You have no clue what to do with yourself. You’re so caught up in the war that you made it who you are. Without the war, you don’t know what you’re good for. So you actively seek out fights. Because you need it.”
The dark seeker gawked at him, ignoring the liquids leaking from his broken nose, down his lips and chin, plopping on his chestpiece drip-by-drip. His processor had frozen upon hearing that assessment because, for some strange reason… it made his spark churn uncomfortably.
Rodimus continued sharply, “There’s more to life than fighting. I’m here to help stop the fighting from breaking out again. Because that’s what my dad wants. And it’s what I want! Peace! And if you think I’m going to let bullies like you stand in the way of that, you’re sorely mistaken. So grow up, and figure out what you want to be. Is fighting all you’re good for? Or are you something more than your base programming?” The kid pretty much left it at that, storming over to the door and leaving Skywarp alone in the room.
The retainer slowly closed his mouth, licking the liquid trail off his lips, but kept staring into the bit of space Rodimus had once been occupying, his mental gears spinning away at the rebuke he’d just gotten. Was he really so stuck on the war…? Thinking this hard was starting to make him anxious, but he just couldn’t think about anything else. He needed to figure this out…
Lethargically, the seeker made his way out of the room and started for the entrance to the castle. He had a bet he needed to collect before getting himself a stiff drink for all the deep contemplating he was inevitably going to be doing…