Chapter Text
Improvements to hunting were marginal, but they only had a few cycles. Arcee quietly decreased the rations, which led to a lot of grumbling. Some of the Autobots attempted to blame the Seekers, but were quickly put in their place when they were reminded exactly what the Seekers were actually consuming. Thundercracker's rations had changed in flavor, and though he tried to drink less of them and rely more on prey, he couldn't help wondering where they were coming from. If his energeon was enriched, but others' wasn't, then how were they getting the minerals to enrich it?
The Autobot hunting group had already left for the morning. As pedesteps reached Thundercracker's audials, he cracked open his optics. His chest had that odd, buzzing feeling, but it wasn't quite a spasm. Despite the tiredness weighing his frame down, he forced himself to sit up, leaning against the tree. It bent slightly under his weight, which almost made him reconsider, but he was so tired.
Were they really back so soon? A check of his chronometer told him otherwise—it had been breems. Had he fallen asleep again? He told Skywarp to wake him up. Why hadn't wa woken him up? Oh well.
Cyan-green plating caught his optics. Soundwave lagged at the back of the group, nas shoulders hunched. Of all the ground-dwelling mecha, Soundwave was the most experienced with hunting. So why was na so tense?
Thundercracker sat up further as Acid Storm and Hotlink approached and gave their usual report. The Autobots had improved somewhat. It was easy to see the results. Carried in their arms was a cyberdeer. Though, it took six mecha to take down what a single trine could. Not exactly promising, but there were a lot of Autobots, so maybe it could still work.
As they walked off, Thundercracker sighed. Any cycle now, the Autobots would run out of energeon despite Arcee's attempts to conserve it. She hadn't told her soldiers anything. By the time she did, it would be too late.
Skywarp was already at Soundwave's side. Wa gave nam a hug and led na back to where Thundercracker was laying. He reached out, giving nam a hug of his own. Nas plating was still tense. Sorrow hung on the air, muted but obvious.
"What's wrong?" He whispered.
Soundwave shook nas helm and sat beside him, leaning into him. A screech split the air as two blurs descended from the sky. Blast smiled down at Windshear and led vam toward the edge of the clearing. Soundwave's gaze followed them, the sorrow growing more biting.
"I want to fly," Soundwave said quietly.
Thundercracker should've expected it. Soundwave was a Seeker, despite being born an Autobot. Flight was important to Seekers, and it was the one thing Soundwave couldn't do. Thundercracker looked toward Skywarp. Waz wings were set low, a frown pulling on waz lips.
Autobots couldn't fly. Not like Seekers. They didn't have wings or thrusters. Their engines were different. They simply weren't built for it. An Autobot couldn't take to the sky any more than Thundercracker could roll across the ground.
Then, Thundercracker remembered. It wouldn't be the same. Nothing would ever be the same as flying with one's own wings and thrusters. But Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had learned to use jetpacks so they could catch Seekers in the sky. Maybe Soundwave could also learn.
Thundercracker pulled Soundwave close and purred.
"We'll see what we can do," he said.
!!!
They weren't in the mess hall. Thundercracker knocked on their door but received no answer. He didn't even catch a glimpse of red or yellow plating in the halls. At least, not the red or yellow he was looking for. It was as if Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had vanished.
Thundercracker held out some hope. He leaned against the wall of the main room, chewing on yet another snack Skywarp and Starscream had offered him. A flash of yellow—no, that was Bumblebee. A flash of red—no, Cliffjumper. Somehow, Thundercracker hadn't spoken to them at all since he returned. The only time he saw them was in the mess hall. Back then, he had turned away from them. Had they taken that as a sign that he didn't want to speak with them anymore? Or did they decide he was an enemy after they watched him eat with Sunstorm's trine?
Thundercracker's chronometer pinged him. He abandoned his search. Finding them would have to wait until after his appointment. After learning that he kindled, Ratchet insisted on giving him a checkup. He had tried to get out of it by urging Sunstorm to tell Ratchet it was fine, but na was in agreement: a checkup would be useful. The flock would be so discouraged if their Winglord lost nas litter, after all!
That was ignoring that Sunstorm had already given him multiple checkups. Perhaps na just wanted him to suffer. Ratchet was a great doctor, but he was immensely thorough, which meant this appointment would take up time that would be better spent. Thundercracker already knew his litter was healthy. That probably wouldn't have changed in just a decacyle.
Still, he entered the medbay. Starscream hovered over Ratchet, watching as he placed a patch on an Autobot's shoulder. He explained his actions quietly and slowly. Optics wide and wings twitching, Starscream took in every word. Sunstorm organized supplies in the corner, nas plating tense. Thundercracker leaned on the side of the doorway, waiting until they finished.
As the Autobot got up, they finally turned toward him. Starscream's mouth parted, kas wings fluttering slightly. Surprise drifted on the air. Ratchet smiled.
"Here for your appointment?" He said.
Thundercracker nodded. He sat on the berth Ratchet motioned toward. Starscream backed away, but Ratchet reached out, catching kan.
"You're here to learn, aren't you?" He said.
Starscream nodded.
"Then stay and learn," Ratchet said.
Ratchet started with a basic checkup, then moved into a spark scan. Starscream was quiet the whole time, even when Ratchet ribbed kan. It was in characteristic, but the tension and excitement in the air explained it all. Ka tended to go quiet when anxious or excited, and right now, ka was both.
"They seem healthy to me," Ratchet said, noting something down on the computer nearby. "Have you been fueling well?"
"Constantly," Thundercracker said.
Ratchet smiled. He reached into one of the cabinets and pulled out a cube, then placed it in Thundercracker's lap. Hunger, which had slowly become background noise, rose to the front of Thundercracker's mind. He took a sip.
"Thanks," he said.
"Don't let yourself go without fuel," Ratchet said. "The newsparks can't make their own energy yet. They need it straight from your spark or they'll fade."
"I know," Thundercracker said.
But it was difficult to let himself fuel so much when he knew they would soon be running out. His wings drooped. Starscream's optics followed the motion, a frown crossing kas face.
Did Ratchet even know? As far as Thundercracker was aware, Arcee hadn't told anyone. She claimed she didn't want to cause a panic.
"I, um…" Thundercracker hesitated. He knew Ratchet could keep a secret. But he hadn't consulted Arcee. "We're running out of energeon. You are, I mean. So I've been trying to conserve it by fueling less. Seekers can hunt, Autobots can't."
Ratchet frowned. "Is that so?"
Thundercracker stared down at the energeon cube on his lap. It was enriched, just like all of the others. Ratchet had prepared it specifically for him.
"Come here," Ratchet said, motioning for Thundercracker to follow as he turned away.
Thundercracker rose, following Ratchet to one of the doors at the side of the medbay. But rather than it leading to a storage room as he expected, the bright midday sun greeted him. Ratchet continued forward into the surrounding forest, navigating it with swiftness that could only come from familiarity. He stopped suddenly before a fallen log. Thundercracker nearly ran into his back. Behind him, Starscream's claws brushed against his wings.
Ratchet stepped over the log and crouched. Thundercracker did the same. A small, metal apparatus sat on the other side of the log. Inside it was a petrorabbit, which squeaked in surprise as its optics caught his.
Ratchet moved a lever on the trap. With a mighty clang and a fearful screech, the petrorabbit was no more. Another button released the petrorabbit's frame. Corpse in hand, Ratchet reset the trap.
"Oh," Thundercracker said. "You've…"
"Been trapping mechanimals to feed you, yes," Ratchet said. "We realized you weren't getting the nutrients you needed from pure energeon quickly. Prowl was distraught, so I found a solution."
A wave of Thundercracker didn't know what flowed through him. Relief? Shock? Whatever it was, he knew this was an opportunity. The Seekers wouldn't hunt for the Autobots. The Autobots wouldn't learn to hunt for themselves in time. But Ratchet had been trapping mechanimals for vorns.
"Have you ever tried it?" Thundercracker asked.
Ratchet glanced between Thundercracker and the petrorabbit. His brow furrowed.
"One or twice," he said. "Just the line energeon. The rest always went to you. It's not bad."
Ratchet hoisted the petrorabbit onto his shoulder. It was much larger on him than on a Seeker, carried with a bit more effort. But Ratchet was a strong mech.
"Would you… consider teaching the other Autobots?" Thundercracker said. "The ornly stipend hasn't been arriving and Arcee can't get through to anyone who can fix it. Rations were cut because we would've run out otherwise. We're trying to teach a small team how to hunt, but it's not working out how we hoped."
Ratchet shrugged.
"If it's necessary," he said. "But I doubt they'll like it."
Thundercracker couldn't disagree.
!!!
He finally managed to catch Sunstreaker and Sideswipe in the hall. They didn't wave, nor did they say hello. But Thundercracker recognized them regardless. His spark sank as they kept walking. He raised his voice.
"Hey!" He said. "I need to talk to you!"
They stopped.
"What?" Sunstreaker said.
His voice was cold, almost bitingly so. He didn't turn around.
"It's about your jetpacks," Thundercracker said. He flinched as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe turned, their optics searing his plating. "I, um. Would you be willing to teach another mech how to use them?"
"You can fly," Sideswipe said, his olfactory ridge crinkling.
Thundercracker shook his helm. "Not me! Soundwave. He wants to fly, but he doesn't have wings or thrusters, so…"
"The little bot that refuses to talk to any of us?" Sideswipe asked.
As far as Thundercracker knew, Soundwave didn't wander the base frequently. Na had actually stopped coming at all. But clearly, na had made an impression in the scarce moments na was there.
"Yeah," Thundercracker said. "Him."
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged glances. Sunstreaker shrugged.
"Why not?" He said.
Silence lingered between them. None of them moved. Something desperate clawed at Thundercracker. He used to be so close to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but now they could barely hold a conversation. What had happened while he was gone?
Finally, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker turned away. Thundercracker stepped forward, reaching out.
"I missed you," he said.
"We missed you too," Sunstreaker said. Thundercracker's spark lightened. "But you're one of them now."
Thundercracker took a step back. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're a Seeker," Sunstreaker said.
"I've always been one," Thundercracker said.
Didn't they know that?
"But you were different," Sideswipe said. "You didn't run around and kill things. You spoke Common. You were loyal to the Autobots. Now you spend half your time with those mechanimals and devour petrorabbits in the mess hall. You didn't even try to talk to us until you needed something."
Guilt washed over Thundercracker. It was true. He hadn't tried to speak with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe until now. After brushing them off in the mess hall, he hadn't spoken to them at all. But did they really decide he wasn't loyal to the Autobots anymore based on that?
"I'm loyal," Thundercracker said. "I came back, didn't I?"
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stared at him. Thundercracker's plating tensed.
"I went on this mission to help us," Thundercracker said. "It was why the Autobots took me in, wasn't it? To infiltrate the Seekers? So I did. And now I'm here, and they're here, and we aren't fighting each other. Because I made things peaceful."
"You dragged a bunch of mechanimals that fuel on living metal to our doorstep!" Sunstreaker said. "The same mechanimals that killed countless Autobots and destroyed cities. And now you're defending them."
Thundercracker's wings widened of their own accord. "Autobots killed Seekers, too! They destroyed entire flocks and their homes!"
"In self-defense!" Sunstreaker spat. "Or did you forget that the Seekers are trying to kill us all? That they were created to eliminate the enemy and now that they've run out of wars, they've come to destroy us too?"
Anger rose in Thundercracker's spark, burning his fuel lines. Seekers weren't like that. He knew they weren't. They were forced to fight. Even Megatron had said that. And if all they knew was fighting, what else were they going to do? The solution wasn't to put them down like rabid cyberdogs. Thundercracker himself was proof of that.
"Then I'm a mechanimal!" Thundercracker growled. "There is no difference between me and them."
"You're right," Sunstreaker said, backing away. "There is no difference."
The hall was quiet with them gone. Thundercracker's limbs went numb. Was that really what they thought? For them to turn so quickly, had they really ever viewed him as different? How many of the Autobots agreed with them, silently or not?
Thundercracker didn't want to know.
!!!
"You can't let the Autobots train under Deftclaw."
Thundercracker was nearly in recharge when Skywarp's voice rescheduled this audials. He forced himself awake.
"Why?" He asked.
Skywarp frowned, waz olfactory ridge crinkling. "It's wrong."
Thundercracker ran his fingers over Skywarp's wing. On the other side of him, Starscream stirred.
"Why would it be wrong?" Thundercracker said.
Seekers hunted all the time. The Autobots were already trying to learn how to hunt. Some of them, anyway. Ratchet's traps were just a different method.
"It's underhanded," Starscream said. "Prey can't fight back when it's in a trap."
"Is this about the external weapons thing?" Thundercracker said.
Megatron had scorned them before. Thundercracker hadn't asked any of the others whether it was an actual common belief or just Megatron being Megatron, but the lack of interest in Nacelle's smithing made him suspect the former. Megatron was probably just one of the few that actually voiced it.
"Yes," Starscream said. "And no. External weapons still let the prey fight back. Traps don't."
Okay. So the prejudice against external weapons was a thing. Just not to the level Megatron believed in it. Yet another reason why Sunstorm would've been angry at Bitstream and Hotlink for being interested in Autobot weapons, and why Blast was initially so insistent that Windshear wouldn't live a good life. Thundercracker stored that away for later.
"Why does the prey have to fight back?" Thundercracker asked. "Wouldn't it be kinder to just kill it immediately?"
Starscream snorted. Skywarp shook waz helm.
"If it escapes, it lives. If it doesn't, we eat," Skywarp said. "Traps don't give that chance. They prey is just stuck, alone and afraid, waiting for death. I would want a chance to escape if something was trying to eat me."
Thundercracker flinched. That was… dark.
Starscream flicked kas wing. "Traps are a weapon of the enemy. They've been used against us many times. Using traps would make is just like the Autobots."
Thundercracker motioned to the walls that surrounded them.
"We're sleeping in an Autobot burrow," Thundercracker said. "We've lived alongside them for over a vorn now. Our helpers are working together. If we wanted to avoid being like the Autobots, that cybird has flown."
Starscream scoffed.
"We aren't like them," ka said. "We hunt. We dig. We speak Vosian. They sneer and jeer but we stay as we are. We may be forced to work with them but we're not like them. We never will be. Even if we wanted to pretend that all of us could change our ways right now, they would never accept it. So let us hold onto what we have. Let us teach them the right way to do this, and keep them from taking yet another thing from us."
The venom in kas voice was matched by the anger on the air. Starscream spoke with kas lips curled, exposing kas dentae. Skywarp looked away as Thundercracker turned toward wan, waz wings lowering, before they rose again and wa looked up.
"Please," wa said.
They were right about the Autobots never accepting them. Thundercracker had tried to put the interaction with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe out of his mind, but his processor summoned the memory files now. Just siding with the Seekers once caused them to turn away from him. They called him a mechanimal. Did they even view him as a mech, or just as a monster? Yet another enemy to ruthlessly take down just like in the games they used to play?
The Autobots would starve if they ran out of energeon. The small band that were learning to hunt wouldn't be able to sustain them, and that was if they could even get the Autobots to be remotely friendly toward the idea of consuming lime energeon. Thundercracker was starting to have doubts.
Trapping was one of the few ways they could do that. All the Autobots would have to do was learn how to operate the traps. No more failed hunting sessions. And then what? They would have carcasses to discard. The Seekers would never touch them because they were obtained through trapping. It would be a waste.
"Okay," Thundercracker said.
Skywarp nuzzled him. Starscream let out a quiet trill. The air calmed.
How could Thundercracker save the Autobots and keep his word?
!!!
A nearby base agreed to be their relay (Well, nearby if nearby meant half a cycle's flight—but Autobot bases were generally far apart). Thundercracker lingered just out of sight of the communications console's camera. Arcee stood at the center of it—the only individual in the room that would be visible. They didn't know how The Intermediary or their relay would react to Seekers in an Autobot base, and they didn't want to find out.
The screen lit the room. An Autobot appeared on it, white plating brightly lit. Two glowing protrusions were on the side of their helm.
"Wheeljack!" Arcee said.
The Autobot—Wheeljack—waved.
"Before you put us through," Arcee said. "I just wanted to thank you again."
Wheeljack shrugged. "We're always happy to help. Even if the situation is a bit… odd."
Arcee nodded. The screen flickered as Wheeljack sent them through. When the loading indicator disappeared, they were met with yet another Autobot. He glared at them with narrowed optics, blue plating shining in the too-bright artificial light.
"What do you need?" He said.
His voice was accented, though Thundercracker couldn't place it. Was that just how mecha from Iacon sounded?
"We need to speak with The Magnus," Arcee said.
The Intermediary scoffed. "Everyone needs to speak with The Magnus. Tell me why."
Thundercracker's spark fluttered. His vision darkened at the edges, his helm spinning. Scrap. No, no, no… not now.
"Our ornly stipend hasn't come in," Arcee said.
The Intermediary's brow furrowed. "Is that so?"
Thundercracker's limbs went numb. This was so much worse than the other times his seekerlings had taken energy from his spark. Why was it so much worse? His vision faded. He reached blindly for the wall.
"Yes," Arcee said. "We—"
Thundercracker's hand missed. He stumbled forward.
"What is that?"
Thundercracker froze, pressing himself against the wall. His vision returned, greeting him with the sight of The Intermediary, optics blazing as they stared at him. He lowered his wings. Arcee turned around, shock on the air.
"I—um," Thundercracker stammered. "I'm Thundercracker. Hi?"
"It speaks," The Intermediary said.
His voice was calm—no hint of the surprise Thundercracker was used to.
"I do," Thundercracker said.
The Intermediary stared straight past him.
"There is a Seeker in your base," The Intermediary said. "Why haven't you destroyed it?"
"He's harmless," Arcee said.
Thundercracker was almost offended. Almost. He could do plenty of harm. He just didn't feel like it.
"It's a Seeker," The Intermediary said. "Seekers are never harmless."
"This Seeker is!" Arcee said. "Thundercracker has never—"
The screen went dark. Silence fell over the room. After a few moments, a message appeared: Connection Severed.
Thundercracker flinched. "Did they just—?"
Arcee let out a frustrated noise and pressed a button on the console. A loading screen appeared as it attempted to establish a connection. Another error. She tried again. And again. And again. All returned errors.
She let out another noise and changed the target. Still unsuccessful. Another target. Still none. She ran a diagnostic.
Connection Timed Out.
"What does that mean?" Thundercracker asked.
Arcee's plating shook with tension.
"We aren't connected to the network," Arcee said, her voice strained. "We can't reach anyone."
"You can fix it, right?" Thundercracker said. "Just reboot it and—"
Arcee whirled towards him. "What do you think I just did?"
Thundercracker raised his hands in surrender. It had to be an error, didn't it? They hadn't just cut them off like that, right?
But it was entirely possible. The Autobot communication network was controlled by Iacon, despite being distributed in satellites across the planet. If The Intermediary blocked their identifier, nothing would respond.
The timing was suspicious. They already hadn't received their stipend for multiple orns. They stopped being able to reach The Intermediary after that. Now, they finally reached The Intermediary, and they suddenly stopped being able to reach anyone at all.
No communications meant no help. No supplies. They were fully on their own.
Prowl and Optimus wouldn't be able to contact them. And that was what started this, wasn't it? They left, and after they would've reached Iacon, everything went wrong. Had something happened to them? Did the saboteur find out? Or worse, was there no saboteur at all?
It made sense. The Magnus knew everything. Iacon had access to all communications. If anyone was planning something, they would know. All of those mysteriously dropped communications or altered routes, all of the undeclared missions… The Magnus had the authority to facilitate all of that.
But why? Why would The Magnus harm the Autobots?
The memory came back yet again: Prowl explaining how to locate the enemy. Mapping out attacks. The Magnus wasn't misdirecting the Autobots for the sake of it—it was to draw out the Seekers. If they attacked, The Magnus would have one more piece of evidence to locate them with. And Megatron played right into it.
Prowl and Optimus were in Iacon, right in The Magnus's grasp. What if they hadn't returned because they could have spilled the truth? What if The Magnus was keeping them? It explained why they hadn't returned to the base or made any calls.
Thundercracker's spark spun faster. He clutched his chest, willing it to slow down, but his processor refused to calm, and it was taking his spark with it. It couldn't be good for his litter, but he couldn't stop it. The Intermediary saw him. It would be reported. The Magnus would know where he was.
For some reason, they had been deemed dangerous. Thundercracker's presence would only solidify it. It was the perfect play: cut off the enemy's resources and watch them flounder. That was what they tried to do by taking the Seekers' hunting grounds, and what they were doing now by cutting the base off from the network.
Prowl and Optimus were in danger, but so were they. The Autobots that attacked the Decepticons wanted living Seekers. Now, they knew where some of them might be. Thundercracker could hope they would assume it was just him, but he knew they understood he was part of the flock.
Everyone at the base was in danger. Whatever special team Sentinel was a part of would come for all of them soon. The Seekers would be captured. The Autobots would be imprisoned at best. Traitors were executed. All they could hope for was mercy.
Thundercracker had to fix this. There must be a way. He searched his memory files, his notes, everything. Slowly, a plan formed. He turned toward the other occupants of the room. Arcee, Starscream, and Skywarp stared back at him.
"I'm going to Iacon," Thundercracker said.