Wing Shift

author: FireCracker
(Italic copy bordered by_underscore_)
Archive? You'd better.
Warnings: None really, at least not here. My Transformers are overall less blocky than the ones in G1, shaped more humanoid but still with plates. Makes for easier sex scenes to imagine. They can also reproduce via the spark principle, among compatible individuals. More on that later. And yeah, they have sex.

Warnings: Somewhat depressed and lonely, Skyfire goes slumming. And runs into an interesting triple threat.

Pairing: Skyfire, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, minicon Breaker


Wing Shift


Chapter 3 Revelations


Jazz and Prowl retreated to their private quarters in the Ark. Neither one could recharge or rest well, with discussion about Skyfire dominating talk among the autobots.

Prowl seemed somewhat more relaxed than his bondmate. He sighed impatiently from bed, while Jazz paced the room and fretted.

"Hey, bot. How about coming over here and giving me some attention? My circuits are going cold!"

"Hm?" Jazz was distracted. "Sorry. It's just...I can't believe Skyfire would turn against us."

Prowl crooked a finger. "Come here a minute."

With a heavy sigh, Jazz sat next to his significant other. "I'm not being a drama bot about this, but-"

A pat. "Yeah, I know. It's hard to wrap your processors around." Prowl was silent a moment before continuing. "I was thinking about something Beachcomber said today."

"You mean the part about not fitting in. Mirage kind of said the same thing."

"Mirage gets on my circuit breakers. If anyone would turn decepticon without looking back, it would be him."

"We're talking about Skyfire here, though."

Prowl held his mate close. "I'm not as close to him as you are, so maybe it doesn't strike me the same way. If it's true, his motives baffle me."

"What could they possibly offer him that he can't get here? He had a place to stay, company-"

"What else, Jazz? He was out of place. He joined the decepticons out of misguided friendship. Then he joined us out of desperation, because we were the only alternative. Sure, he despises the decepticon way. But I don't think he feels appreciated much here, either."

"I can follow most of that."

"Everything he knew is different now. At least we all had the fortune to revive together. He was immediately thrown into a crazy situation."

Jazz made a fist. "So you're saying its acceptable if he turns?"

Prowl's optics flashed dangerously. "No. If he's gone bad, then he gets the same treatment as the other decepticons. I'm sorry, Jazz. I have to consider all the possibilities." he stroked his bondmate on the cheekplate.

"Damn." Jazz sighed. "I'm really hoping we're wrong here. Deep down, I can't help but think he's a good bot."

"Even good bots can change, Jazz." Prowl warned. "Temptations are everywhere. And we all have weaknesses."

Kiss. "I've got a weakness of my own." Jazz squeezed Prowl's hand.

"Hm." the security officer nuzzled. "Time for a little weakness right now." shiny white hands massaged.

Jazz was still distracted. "I've got to talk to him at least."

Prowl sighed, slightly exasperated at his uncooperative mate. "Assuming he'll tell you anything. The argument he had with Prime might be a factor in all this."

"What was that all about, anyway? Hound told me Skyfire was upset about our methods?"

Prowl pulled his mate up on the bed. "It's an interesting take..."

****


A similar conversation was taking place many stellar cycles away at a disreputable spaceport. Skyfire, Blitzwing and Astrotrain struggled to recover from their night of excess. Strained processors and relays were still not up to function, along with several sore ports.

Breaker was doing fine however. Beeping happily, he gave everyone a good cleaning as they sat and talked. The minicon hopped from shoulder to shoulder, removing grime from the tiniest crevices.

His efforts didn't go unappreciated. Blitzwing stretched an arm and rotated it. "Ah, you do excellent work, Breaker. I haven't moved this arm so well in many vorns."

Astrotrain extended a leg, satisfied with a pop of loosening muscle cables. "Hmm. Good...I could still use a nice, hot silicone bath though."

Skyfire flicked his wings lazily, easing cramping sensors. "I thought we were in a hurry to get to Megatron?"

Breaker beeped, jumping on his leg. "No hurry. Breaker clean, so cluster fuck again!"

Skyfire held his head. "I think I'll pass, Breaker."

Blitzwing likewise groaned. "Agreed...I'm not trying to fry my central processors. I can only imagine what Hook will say when we return."

Astrotrain grunted, his arms dangling over his knees. "That sadistic assbot? I try to avoid his table when I can."

"Can't trust him as a medic?" Skyfire wondered, despite his aching brain box.

"He's capable enough, but don't get him mad. Frenzy popped off one time and woke up with his head pointed the wrong way."

"How do the decepticons function at all?" Skyfire didn't understand. "Is there any real structure other than Megatron being in charge?"

"It's pretty fluid most of the time." Blitzwing replied. "Megatron has his favorites. They get leeway despite not being high up on the food chain."

Skyfire pointed at the triple changers. "Where do you two come in?"

Astrotrain gave an echoing laugh. "We're in the fold and respected for our power. We follow orders efficiently, so he leaves us alone for the most part."

Blitzwing was smug. "Still, he handles us carefully...as well he should. The others follow him out of fear or greed, but we merely choose to do so. And unlike the others, we have no real fear of him. A marriage of expediency, you might say."

"He seems to see conspiracy in every corner. Not without merit."

Astrotrain pointed at the jet. "You're like us in many ways, Skyfire. We heard about the fiasco at the artic circle. Do you know you're the only transformer outside of Prime that's tossed Megatron? Believe me, that made an impression on the others."

"I was angry. I told him I wouldn't follow his orders." Skyfire was bitter. "What a joke! Now I go to do just that."

"Different circumstance. Now you're in a position to make some changes, instead of towing the company line."

Skyfire turned to Astrotrain. "You said we're alike. In what way, I don't see it at all."

"You have intelligence and don't intimidate. Those are attributes that give Megatron the most trouble. He wants war mongers and idiots. They're easy to frighten and manipulate. Add to that your physical strength...it makes you hard to deal with."

Skyfire was deep in thought. "You may have a point. It explains a lot about his relationship with Starscream."

"Ha. Screamers no follower-"

"No, but he plays dangerous games trying to draw Megatron out. As you stated, it will cost him."

"It already has." Blitzwing murmured.

"What!"

The triple changers shared a glance. "He spends considerable time in med bay sometimes. Then he comes out all nice and shiny like nothing happened. No one talks, but scuttlebut says Soundwave knows."

Blue optics flashed weirdly. "Perhaps he and I should...talk." the tone was icy, mechanical.

Breaker finally piped up, pausing his polishing. "Sky kick aft?"

Skyfire folded his arms angrily. "Sky kick much aft, if Sky finds out what happened."

The minicon beeped in excitement. "Then, Breaker help! Got power."

Skyfire sighed. "Somehow, I doubt that."

Blitzwing chuckled. "He's a triple changer too. But his second alt mode is quite the opposite of the first one."

Skyfire remembered their wild interface. "For all our sakes, I hope so. What is it?"

Astrotrain tapped the minicon. "Okay, show him. Careful, now!"

"Me show!" Breaker transformed...into a sphere.

Skyfire put his hands out, shrugging. "And?"

"Touch him." Astrotrain directed. "But very, very gently."

Curious, Skyfire barely tapped the minicon sphere with a finger. Energy crackled around his hand.

"I still don't see-"

Blinding white electrons danced in his optics. Hydraulics seized, relays overloaded and his central processor slowed to a crawl. He collapsed on the floor, optics dark.

Breaker returned to bot mode. "Friend Sky! Okay?" he patted the huge jet.

"D...d...destabilizer." Blue optics flickered back online. "You sneaky little-" he sat up slowly.

Breaker thumped his chest. "See. Told you, have power!"

Astrotrain helped him up. "And that was just a light charge."

Skyfire looked at the minicon with new appreciation. "I'd love to examine you, Breaker. How someone your size could completely immobilize me is impressive."

"Can do bigger, too!"

"What?!"

Blitzwing lit himself another flashstick. "Hm. Breaker can absorb all transient energy and redirect it, or shut it off."

"Ah." Blue optics flickered with fascination. "It explains his two opposite alt modes. One pleasure, one pain."

Astrotrain laughed. "You _are_ a scientist. Most bots would be fretting about seeing Megatron, but all you want to do is examine Breaker!"

"I despise Megatron, in more ways than you can know."

Breaker beeped, tapping his leg. "Kick aft! No like Megatron either. Loud, pushy!"

"You aren't alone in that assessment, Skyfire." Blitzwing puffed his smoke. "It's time for reorganization. You might be surprised at the number of decepticons that would throw in with us."

"But they're afraid to, and rightfully so." Astrotrain added. "We don't hold the advantage...yet."

Skyfire glanced at his chronometer. "When are we leaving, by the way? I'm surprised Megatron hasn't tried to contact us."

"He's in no hurry for some odd reason. Besides, our ship won't be refuelled for another hour."

"Why can't we just fly back ourselves?"

"Subspace stations are down for maintance until tomorrow. And I doubt any of us has the range for a one way trip to earth otherwise."

Skyfire had to laugh. "Pretty ridiculous. Three space shuttles that need a ship!"

Astrotrain licked a finger. "Well, we could always do the A train....heh."

"I don't think so!"

"C'mon, Skyfire." the triple changer snerked. "It'll be fun...maybe work out some soreness..."

Skyfire stared in disbelief. "Is that all you think about, Astrotrain?"

"Only when I'm around you. Besides, you're the only bot to handle us both and still be conscious the next day."

Blitzwing snickered. "Oh, I can see it now...we'll all land on earth...connected...they'll talk about us for years!"

"I can see why you two don't mix too well with the others!"

"Only a few, only a few..." Blitzwing was serene, remembering. "There are certain decepticons we favor. Want to know what the A train is?"

Skyfire closed his optics briefly. "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."

"Hot stuff." Breaker quipped.


"You interface while flying in shuttle mode. Belly to belly, ports pulsating and-"

"I get the picture!"

"The pressure of turbos against hot skin...then you dive when the energon rushes to your cogs...what a feeling!"

Astrotrain was dreamy. "Then your gyros burst in flight doing spinners. Messy, but not bad. Damn, I need a flashstick now." he lit up.

The minicon chirped. "Breaker be between everybody. One time make them crash, feel so good!"

Skyfire groaned. "Primus save me from sex fiend decepticons."

****

An hour later they boarded their ship. The three transformers sat at the helm.

"Feels strange to me." Skyfire commented. "I'm not used to staring at another cockpit."

"It does take away the excitement of flight." Blitzwing agreed.

"Like sensory deprivation." Skyfire added, seating himself. He traced the controls.

Astrotrain punched in their destination. "Have you figured out your official speech for Megatron? It better be good."

"I plan to keep it simple. That way there's less chance that something can go wrong."

"As long as you're convincing. If this fails, he won't take you back a second time."

Blitzwing brooded. "We've come too far for our plans to be foiled. Perhaps you can use your dispute with Optimus as a reason."

"I was thinking along the same lines."

"So what happened? Word reached us it was a major blowup."

Skyfire sat back in his seat. "It really didn't start that way. Wheeljack and I were working on energy regulation disks that transformers of both factions could use. It was my idea, originally. Wheeljack wasn't too keen about it, since Optimus hadn't given approval."

"Optimus Prime no like decepticons. Not help." Breaker chirped, seated on Astrotrain's shoulder.

"No. I'd asked Wheeljack to keep it between us until improvements could be made. Anyway, it was a moot point when our makeshift lab exploded. Cracked disk shells were everywhere. When Optimus found out what we were doing, he was pretty angry. Wheeljack tried to explain the intent. Prime shouted him down about aiding enemies, and that the decepticons would never agree to use such devices."

"Much as I hate to agree, they probably wouldn't." Blitzwing commented.

"It was too soon. The disks weren't even that usable without improvements, so Prime just assumed the idea wouldn't work. Everyone's too conditioned to war to see past their nose. It was only a proposal I was working on. I wasn't expecting universal peace. But Prime wouldn't listen."

"Let me guess, it got out of hand after that." Astrotrain surmised.

"True. The argument escalated. Don't get me wrong, Prime's a noble leader. He cares about his troops, and has strength and compassion. But I don't idolize him like the others do. I respect his authority, but it doesn't intimidate me. So we argued. Other autobots overheard us and were shocked. Red Alert accused me of usurping Prime's position as autobot leader. It was ridiculous, of course. Leading the autobots was the furthest thing from my mind."

"These disks...what would they do?" Blitzwing wondered.

"The war is fueled by hunger for energy sources. I felt the first step would be to improve the overall energy efficiency of all transformers. We would be less reliant on energon."

"A very...interesting concept. But?"

"There's a price to be paid for energy reduction. Core processors would reduce in speed, as would reaction time and brain function. As I said, the disks weren't usable yet. But even that wasn't where the argument escalated."

"Experimentation." Astrotrain grinned.

Skyfire was surprised. "Yes...I had a more radical theory I was willing to test, but I needed a subject to work on."

"I can see where this is going. No way the autobots would agree to something like that!"

"I needed to see if our physiology could be improved, to where we could absorb external energy and retain it in our capacitors. If so, it would solve the weakness problem. But the suggestion was an error on my part...Optimus went ballistic."

Blitzwing whistled. "You're quite a radical, Skyfire."

"I never thought so. But among the autobots, if you don't agree with Prime you have an 'agenda'. Their hopeless loyalty is hard to deal with."

"I can see where they might not trust you, the more you talk."

"Oh?"

"You sound like a true flyer. And flyers don't like to be grounded by restrictions, even ones they agree with."

"Still, it was just an idea. It wasn't like I was planning on grabbing an autobot and dismembering him! But hysteria went off the charts after that. I was accused of being a decepticon spy all over again."

"Optimus called you that?" Blitzwing was genuinely surprised.

"No, but others did. I was called an 'evil' bot. It was crazy, worse than having an army of insecticons yapping at your audios. It was like being in the dark ages, when any new idea was shot down for blasphemy."

"Sounds like it was all downhill from there."

"It was. Then Optimus challenged my priorities and loyalty, talking about how they'd taken me in when I was lost, giving me a home." blue optics blazed bright in rage. _"As if I were a charity case!"_

"Incredible. Who says the great Optimus doesn't have cracks in his armor?" Astrotrain sniggered.

"That blew it for me. I cut loose, telling Prime to get himself another high speed taxi. I didn't need any of them. If they wanted to discount my ideas, fine. I'd find someone else to appreciate what I could do!" a fist slammed down on contol panels.

Breaker chirped. "Big Sky mad again. Like in club!"

"Take it easy, before you knock us off course." Astrotrain punched some buttons. "Sounds like you really told him off."

Skyfire continued, his optics muted. "I tore off my autobot symbol and threw it at him. I think he was genuinely shocked. Told him it had been real. I stormed out of the ark and flew off, never looking back."

"Did any of them follow you? I know how autobots think, they don't let anything go."

"The aerialbots and Powerglide followed me in the air, trying to talk me down. I didn't want to hear it. I was too angry and frustrated. Something in me wasn't right...I burned in rage. So instead of attacking them, I went into orbit."

The great jet sighed, covering his faceplate. "Maybe something is wrong with me. I'm too angry all the time now. That was never the case before."

Astrotrain rubbed a white shoulder, soothing. "You repressed too long to fit in. And then there's personal stuff not resolved."

"You talking about Starscream again? Why?"

"Because we see how you get when his name is mentioned."

A sigh. "What's this about him and ThunderCracker?"

"I knew you'd remember that." Blitzwing replied. "It may not seem so, but they're pretty close. They comfort each other, you know? Lonely."

"I...know the feeling."

"I could give you a list of all the interfacing decepticons, but most of it is just kicks. Megatron doesn't care who's doing it with who, as long as efficiency is maintained."

Blue optics flickered again. "And who is _he_ doing it with?"

"On a regular basis? Word is, its Soundwave." Blitzwing snorted. "Figures he'd bang the number one suckup."

"Soundwave suck." Breaker held his nose. "Not sexy."

Even Astrotrain found it distasteful. "Yeah...Megatron's got pretty lousy taste when it comes to lovers. Did you know he and Shockwave got it on, way back in the day?"

Skyfire twitched at that. "Ugh."

"Yeah. I wonder if old Megs gets his optics checked regularly."

Skyfire couldn't let something in his mind go. "You said most of the deceps interface for kicks. Anyone bonded?"

Astrotrain winked. "Haven't figured it out yet?"

"Huh?" optics wide, Skyfire glanced at Blitzwing.

The decepticon tank laughed. "Really, Skyfire. For such an intelligent bot you can be _so_ slow."

A chuckle. "You're right. Dumb me. Who else?"

"There's some really strange pairs running around, that's for sure." Astrotrain patted his head in thought.

"Like who?"

"Runamuck and Dirge. RazorClaw and Hook. Mixmaster and Wildrider. Swindle and Skywarp hooked up recently, and Frenzy bonded DeadEnd. We heard that Octane nabbed Shrapnel. Motormaster and Bombshell hold hands. And those are just the ones we know about!"

Skyfire made a face. "You're right, that's weird."

"Eh, you spark who you spark. I gave up a long time ago trying to figure it out."

Skyfire held his aching chestplate. "No, it never makes sense." a pause. "So why haven't you given me my nice, shiny new purple emblem?"

Blitzwing looked through the scope at the stars. "That honor belongs to Megatron."


to be continued