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Wing Shift	By : FireCracker Category: Transformers > G1 > Slash - M/M Views: 3448 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Beast Wars, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. These fictions are for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Warnings: Somewhat depressed and lonely, Skyfire goes slumming. And runs into an interesting triple threat.
Pairing: Skyfire, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, minicon Breaker

Wing Shift

Chapter 9 Truth and Dare

Astrotrain and Blitzwing sat silently in Skyfire's bedroom, watching him in stasis sleep. Breaker perched next to the white jet in bot mode. He watched Skyfire closely, quietly beeping.
Eventually Blitzwing dozed off, visor dimming. His head leaned forward in sleep over folded arms. Astrotrain glanced over at his bondmate, sensing his state of fatigue. When he was satisfied that Blitzwing was unconscious, Astrotrain made his move.
Gliding towards the bed he paused, merely standing over the valkyrie jet and staring. Crimson optics narrowed and brightened to a nova flare. An odd, almost _evil_ smirk spread over his lips.
Breaker looked up at him but didn't move.
A silvery hand reached out and traced patterns over the broad chest. A tap over Skyfire's decepticon symbol.
Breaker kept watching, nestled at Skyfire's side. A quiet beep. "Astrotrain cure. Can do, Sky must learn."
Astrotrain motioned the minicon to silence. A green glow edged from his wrist to his fingers. Slight touch, shifting of white chestplate. The triple changer spaced his fingers over Skyfire's partially exposed spark chamber. A brilliant blue light burst forth.
/ _I_ will put a stop to this nonsense once and for all, Skyfire. One touch will end your pain and foolish indecision.../forever!_/
Another hand stopped his lunge, a famliar one. Blitzwing gripped his bondmate's arm and held it away.
"Blitzwing! You were playing possum on me."
"Of course. I _know_ you." the decepticon tank pulled Astrotrain back and released him. "I waited to see if you'd attempt that!"
Astrotrain snorted, pointing at the jet. "I could have linked him and cleaned all taint!"
Blitzwing disagreed. "He's too young for that, and his systems might shock. Besides, his spark is still heavily damaged."
Beneath them Skyfire lay like a statue, his spark glow suffusing the room. Blitzwing saw the center of his essence showing breaks and fractures held by static scar tissue. Tiny energon leaks escaped fissures.
"Even injured his spark has strength and power!"
"All right, I won't touch it then." Astrotrain stared into the glow, waving his hands delicately near the casing. White lines of energy arced into the chamber from his fingertips.
"Add those patches gently." Blitzwing instructed. "His hardwire is still full of infection."
Astrotrain didn't appreciate the instruction as he traced the spark's energy field. "You should have let me touch him!"
"Too risky now." Blitzwing eyed Skyfire hungrily. "Besides, most likely he will come to us anyway. Starscream has too much false pride to beg."
"Starscream is an afthole. He wants everything his mainframe can get."
_"You're_ one to talk about _appetites,_ Astrotrain! You'd wear out an overcharged guardian."
Astrotrain waved a hand over Skyfire again. A shifting chestplace slipped into place, protecting vital spark once more.
Breaker beeped suddenly. "Can go now. Sky patch ok. Not worry. Now take hike!" a small hand pointed at the door in emphasis.
"Trying to get rid of us, pipsqueak?" Blitzwing wanted to know.
Breaker shrugged. "Only bond heal Sky. Eventual permanent solution. Astrotrain stopped, moot point."
Astrotrain shoved his partner. "Even Breaker knows I could have healed him!"
Blitzwing snorted. "You'd have done a lot more than _that_ if I hadn't interfered. Now come on!" he pulled his bondmate from the bedroom. "Skyfire won't move for breems, and we need to get back to our own quarters."
Breaker watched them go in satisfaction. Pulling thermosheets over the sleeping flier, he nestled in and entered rest mode.
"Sky accept self. Must happen."
****
Ratchet and Wheeljack worked in tireless shifts to revive Omega Supreme. His situation was critical yet hopeful. Windcharger and Trailbreaker built a platform which housed the leviathan's head. Omega regained consciousness and found he could still communicate despite being detached from his body. Ratchet asked him to minimize conversation so his brain circuitry wouldn't be stressed.
The younger autobots were still somewhat freaked by seeing Omega's head resting in nourishing energon over a bracket frame. Optimus Prime even made an awful joke about everyone "keeping a cool head."
Their other primary concern was the situation regarding Skyfire's defection. Lack of communication and facts led to all sorts of wild speculation. Not surprisingly, several pro Skyfire autobots were now neutral at best. The ones who never accepted the once autobot were convinced he'd become evil incarnate. Morale was at an all time low. Optimus had to restrain some of the younger autobots from making foolish attacks on decepticon headquarters alone.
Meanwhile, Omega burned with an anger he hadn't felt since the constructicons betrayed him. Because of that, his fury had no bounds.
"MUST REPAIR, MAKE COMPLETE SOON."
Ratchet sighed from his workstation. "It's going to take time, Omega. You've got a really big body, in case you hadn't noticed."
"DESPISE TRAITORS."
"Yeah, this whole situation is a mess." Ratchet looked up to see Wheeljack approach.
"Making any more progress?"
"I do better with Trailbreaker and Huffer helping out. Hound and Sparkplug are working with the Navy to get extra materials for circuitry."
Wheeljack looked about at Omega's body parts. "Well, at least most of his exterior components aren't too bad. Grapple and Hoist are helping on this shift, so that should really speed up the process."
Ratched nodded absently, holding up a cone saw. "Wheeljack, what's your honest opinion about Skyfire?"
The scientist sighed. "I wanted to believe it was all a mistake. But after the attack on Omega...no. Whether he's gone wrong or gone bad, it doesn't matter. It's over with in my mind."
"WANT REVENGE. ATTACK UNECESSARY!" Omega's head boomed.
Optimus walked into the area. "We've been over this before, Omega! You _can't_ let revenge consume you." the autobot leader sighed, resting his fists on Teletran Two. "Although I have to admit, it's extremely difficult in times like these."
"TRUST BROKEN."
"I know. What makes this worse is that we just don't know anything! The only thing we do know is that Skyfire left out of here in a rage weeks ago, disappeared then reappeared. He joins the decepticons and attacks you. Nothing makes sense anywhere."
"What about you, Ratchet? What are you thinking?" Wheeljack wanted to know.
The medic was grim. "Maybe it's the doctor in my circuits, but something keeps bugging me about physiology."
Optimus approached him at his workstation. "What do you mean?"
"Did we ever give Skyfire a physical that you know of? A thorough one, not just a simple system scan."
Wheeljack and Optimus looked at each other. "What are you getting at, Ratchet?" Wheeljack wondered.
"His design. He's a contradiction any way you look at it. To start off with, his size. He's the biggest transformer I've ever seen outside of the gestalts. Assuming he was born sometime in the late third age, that doesn't add up. Autobots weren't flight capable then, and for the most part aren't now. And the hardware he carries. It's more reminiscent of decepticon design than autobot."
"But he was an explorer and scientist long ago." Optimus stated. "That would seem to contradict the conclusion he was born a decepticon."
"Wait a minute." Wheeljack snapped his finger units. "Optimus, do you remember the legend of the _Wanderers?_ Transformers whose function didn't match design?"
Blue optics flared brightly from the autobot leader. "Yes! There were stories of misclassified robots everywhere. Many of them went insane or were killed when the first war started, according to legend. But I'm not tying this in with Skyfire."
"REVIEWED THIS ALREADY WITH CLIFFJUMPER AND BUMBLEBEE."
"Omega, if you know something please tell us."
"SUSPICION THAT SKYFIRE DECEPTICON DESIGN NOT CLASSIFIED. SENT OFFPLANET TO EXPLORE."
"I'm convinced of that." Ratchet added. "Realistically, a scientist shouldn't have to be that big or loaded up with weaponry. Now a basic transport could be any size, but the design would be basic since that's a simple function. Even using the exploration angle doesn't explain him. Sure, you'd need some hardware for self preservation. But Skyfire's weaponry is more offensive than defense."
"AS STATED, DECEPTICON DESIGN MORE ADAPTABLE TO HARSHER CONDITIONS."
"Hmm." Optimus punched up something on Teletran Two.
"Teletran Two. Establish main differences in decepticon versus autobot hardwire. Identify signatures."
Ratchet moved up alongside Optimus. "I want to hear this myself. I've examined decepticon and autobot brains and seen structural differences."
Teletran Two spoke. "WORKING. MAINFRAME LOGIC CENTERS HAVE DIFFERENT COGNITIVE VARIABLES. HARDWIRE PROGRAMMING PARALLEL TO CPU CORE PROCESSING."
"Can you break it down to parameters?" Optimus asked.
"WORKING. TRANSFORMERS OF BOTH FACTIONS SHARE SAME SELF PRESERVATION PLATFORM FOR SURVIVAL. HOWEVER, VARIABLES IN HARDWIRING HAVE OVERRIDING INFLUENCE ON BEHAVIOR."
"Start with autobots." Optimus stated.
"WORKING. AUTOBOT HARDWIRING COEFFICIENTS: DEFENSE, STABILITY, RESTORATION. BEHAVIOR COEFFICIENTS: CREATIVITY, PRESERVATION.:
"Now the decepticons." Optimus continued.
"WORKING. DECEPTICON HARDWIRING COEFFICIENTS: ACTIVITY, AGGRESSION, TERRITORY. BEHAVIOR COEFFICIENTS: AMBITION, INDUSTRY."
Wheeljack considered the information. "There was a lot of debate on Cybertron about this. I remember many scientific counsels arguing the "build vs will" theory."
"Did they arrive at any conclusions?" Ratchet wanted to know.
"There was great evidence pointing to hardwiring being the base influence of all our programming. Organic beings have the same thing in their brain centers that control instincts and main functions. So field tests were done, putting a decepticon cpu in an autobot, and an autobot cpu in a decepticon. The results were startling."
"I thought those kinds of tests were outlawed eons ago!" Optimus was alarmed at the concept of experimentation.
"They were, and a lot of scientists and doctors were put in stasis for medical crimes. Anyway, tests seemed to back the theory of hardwire. The implanted autobot became much more aggressive, but only applied that aggression towards constructive activity. The implanted decepticon was quite creative, but applied creativity towards manipulation and personal gain."
"All of which leads us back to Skyfire." Ratched added. "I'll throw this out there. Say Skyfire's a decepticon that was misclassified. If so, he's showing the classic symptoms of hardwire corruption. Being on ice 9 million years delayed the malfunction. But once reactivated, the errors and glitches kicked in."
"But we could fix that!" Wheeljack insisted. "It's a simple matter of brain repair."
"No, that won't work. I see what Ratchet means." Optimus told him. "It finally makes sense. The longer Skyfire was here the less he fit in. I thought it was just because he'd been deactivated for so long and needed time. But something else was going on internally."
"Right, Optimus." Ratchet held up an empty head cover. "You're an autobot. Now imagine someone assigns you a decepticon function in conflict with your design. You've got autobot hardwire in your circuits and mainframe. Now you get frozen, dug up. Your decepticon training tells you the autobots are wrong. You discover otherwise and choose according to your _training,_ not your _hardwire._ Glitches and errors pop up. Your behavior is erratic and unpredictable. Finally you're exposed to autobots. Now your hardwire is getting in synch with your cpu and mainframe. But your decepticon buddies no longer relate and consider you an enemy. Then the situation becomes impossible."
Wheeljack held his head. "Unbelievable. But we still choose what we do, even assuming your theory is right."
"Yes and no. And you call yourself a scientist! Remember all the testing?"
Tracks, Sideswipe and Cliffjumper sauntered in and interrupted the discussion. "We overheard some of that." Tracks said.
"Indeed." Optimus replied. "We're trying to understand what's happening with Skyfire."
"Who cares?" Cliffjumper waved dismissal. "So what if he's a nutjob with an identity crisis? I hope his hardwire blows out his optics."
"That's enough!" Optimus was stern. "Omega will recover, which is all that matters right now."
"Wrong, Optimus." Tracks pointed. "What matters is that we make that traitor _pay_ for what he's done. If the decepticons see weakness they'll attack us again! Who knows who the next victim might be?"
Optimus sighed, sensing another round of arguments coming. "Here we go again."

*****
Starscream moped about his quarters in complete distraction. He sat in the bedroom, arms dangling over his knees. Normally bright optics were dim burgundy in reflection. He was tired. His head dropped low in fatigue.
Silent feet approached him at the bed. A hand touched his shoulder.
"Starscream."
Wearily, Starscream looked up. "Thundercracker?" his voice was a cracked whisper.
The blue seeker nodded in the dim light. "You don't look so hot."
"It doesn't matter. I don't know what to do anymore."
Thundercracker sat down next to him. "We can both start by being totally honest."
"That may not be a good idea."
Thundercracker took his hand. "There's nothing left if we aren't. I'm only going to ask this one time, Starscream." he turned the other seeker around to face him. "Are you in love with Skyfire?"
Starscream stared so long Thundercracker wasn't sure he heard the question. "Why are you starting with Skyfire? We had problems before he arrived here-"
"I see." Thundercracker moved to go, face expressionless.
Starscream grabbed him. "Stop! Please, don't leave like this."
"Your final chance. Tell me now."
More staring. "I...it may be possible. I'm not sure."
"Not sure!"
Red optics were pleading. "The remnants of our bond confuse me. It could just be nostalgia for all I know."
It was Thundercracker's turn to stare. "I don't think you're confused at all. But I'll let it go for the moment. Do you love _me?"_
"Yes." Optics dropped.
Thundercracker shook him. "You can't even look at me and say that! More _lies."_
_"I'm not lying!"_ Starscream shrieked unexpectedly. "I love you. Do I have to scream it in the halls before you believe me?"
A black hand stroked his face. "I guess what I need to know is, are you _in_ love with me?"
Starscream shook his head helplessly. "No."
Thundercracker laughed bitterly. "At last you give an honest answer."
"I have a question for _you."_ Starscream frowned, not responding directly.
"Fair enough."
"Did you think you could _make_ me fall in love with you? That our sparks would suddenly feel that way?"
Thundercracker didn't hesitate. "Yeah, I did. Maybe it was my ego, but I couldn't stop hoping. But when things got strung along, I lost faith it could happen."
Starscream looked away. "I'm sorry. I wasn't doing anything on purpose."
"I know."
Silence. Thundercracker shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "So where does this leave us?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you want to work things out?"
"Maybe. I don't know."
Thundercracker stood abruptly, suddenly angry again. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"
Starscream stood next. "If you're so angry I'm not in love, _why bother?!_"
The blue seeker got in his face, snarling. "Oh you're in _love,_ all right. With _Skyfire!"_
Starscream exploded in scratchy laughter. "You know why this is _really_ stupid? Skyfire spends his free time with perverts these days. So please tell me _when_ there's time for me to cheat? If you have an answer, I'd love to hear it!"
Thundercracker spluttered. "You're making fun of this?"
"I laugh at this insane jealously of yours. Where's _your_ honesty?"
Thundercracker backed away slowly, seeing for the first time. "It was never meant to be." he shook his head sadly. "I'll take my things with me and clear out. It's over, Starscream."
The red seeker stared at his retreating companion in shock. "That's it? You're just walking out without giving us a chance?"
Blue wings flexed in agitation. "You don' t want reconciliation. And I'm not a fool."
"No!" Starcream raced to him in a panic, stroking his wings. "Let me make things up to you, Cracker! I'm not saying things are perfect...but Skyfire is _not_ in my life, no matter what you think or how it looks. Yes, we see each other to talk. But only to talk! Not _once_ have we interfaced, much less sparked. You've got to believe that!"
Thundercracker's lip tightened as his optics narrowed. "You _are_ telling the truth, aren't you?"
Starscream kissed his faceplate frantically. "Yes, yes! Let me prove it to you."
"Do you want to be with him?"
"I did, but not anymore! Skyfire and those _freaks_ deserve each other. I have larger ambitions!"
Thundercracker crushed Starscream into a kiss. "Now _that_ is what I wanted to hear! Come on." easing out of the kiss, Thundercracker led him to the bedroom.
Starscream smirked deviously behind Thundercracker as he was dragged, optics flaring. /I always get what I want!/

to be continued
- 8
- 9
- 10
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Wing Shift