[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]I Think It's Just A Little Broken (closed)

[Deleted]

(Set noon: day 1, week 1)

Darkness.

In the damaged control room of the Nemesis, water had been seeping in. It had pooled slowly, the only sound was water trickling, lapping over the floor, gradually building up to cover the consoles that had once controlled the ship. The front panels of the ship had cracked, allowing water in, but Decepticon engineering was tough and thus seawater seeped, rather than flooded. Some consoles still flickered - along with torn, sparking cables and the flashing emergency lights, these were the only sources of light.

At the bottom of all this, at the very front of the room, on what had once been the ceiling of the room but now, with the ship upside down, was its floor, one oversized seeker lay unconscious. The crash had not been kind to Skywarp. He'd been so focussed on trying to take down Soundwave, he'd neglected the environmental danger as the whole ship came down. When the bridge had broken, it had been far too late for him to undertake any evasive manoeuvrers. The full weight of the bridge had smashed into the seeker, instantly knocking him unconscious and dragging his frame right to the bottom, burying him there.

Skywarp had lain there, crushed and unaware of that the rest of the crew were abandoning ship. Despite having a bridge literally dropped on him, he'd been lucky in that he had not landed on something sharp that could have skewered him. The bulk of the broken bridge segment had also been partially caught on the ceiling, rather fully on than the seeker. Instead, one leg was trapped under the debris, the rest of him relatively free. His thick armour had protected him from the worst but it had taken a beating though, it was crumpled from the impact of both the bridge smacking into him and from the fall.

The seeker was sprawled forward on his front, both arms stretched out in front of him - he'd curled them in front of him when he'd flown at Soundwave and thus had been caught and crushed accordingly. Two prongs of the harpoon which had torn its way through his hand had punctured the ceiling when he'd smacked into the floor, thus pinning his hand there, should the seeker attempt to move it. Energon had bled profusely at first but as the hours crawled past, the flow had slowed to a trickle as his self repair had attempted to fix the wound.

It took the seekers hours to come to. Multiple factors fed into each other. He'd made several teleportation jumps over the course of the night- short ones which didn't take so much out of him on their own but did add up when done repeatedly and begin to eat into his energon reserves. Skywarp had teleported about much more than he usually would, as he was on the Nemesis and wasn't so worried about running low on energon as he normally was. The harpoon had been a consistent point of energon loss as well, seeping energon into the rising water. Skywarp was fortunate that his frame, excluding his warp core, was incredibly energy efficient otherwise his chances of waking up again would have been rather low. The damaged he'd accumulated was taking its toll and his frame was trying to fix what it could before it'd devote resources to his higher functions.

Time passed. The water levels rose slowly, covering the front of his body. Skywarp was about half underwater when finally his self repair had declared it'd done what it could and finally let power to the rest of him. He booted quickly, one moment nothing, the next Skywarp was back online. With much of his processor tied to his warp core, it took little to get the 'Skywarp' part of it going.

The seeker's waking impression was that his right hand had turned into a fireball of agony. Earlier, his rage and fury had allowed him to bury down and ignore most of the pain but now there was none of that, just jolts of pain wracking his arm. He cried out, unprepared for what was awaiting in reality and reflexively tried to pull his hand back, splashing water as he moved.

This was a mistake.

The rising water levels had eventually covered Skywarp's hands. The harpoon wasn't firmly embedded into the ceiling, one prong was hooked more securely than the other. But it was enough that when Skywarp pulled away, the harpoon caught and tore at his hand yet again, undoing the meagre work his self repair had achieved. Another startled cry escaped from the seeker and he immediately stopped because his hand been hurting before but now it really was. His hand had been absolutely ravaged, the hole in it was bigger now, the post of the harpoon was no longer held tightly by the entry point it had created.

Waves of pain radiated from it now, Skywarp shuttered his optics and tried to clear his head. His immediate impulse was to just wrench his arm back, frag the harpoon but, as evidenced by what had happened mere moments ago, he knew that would make things worse, so he had to move beyond that. Instead, he tried to figure out what his situation was like, checking to see if his other limbs were free.

At last, Skywarp noticed the rising water levels, cold and soaking through his frame. He ignored it for now, it wasn't what was trapping him right now. A little bit of rubble rested on his other arm but he was able to shake it free without much difficulty. One leg was free but the other…Skywarp frowned. His left leg was pinned by something, he could feel weight crushing it down but he wasn't about to tilt his head and try and look behind him in case he jostled his right arm.

In truth, all this was a moot point, all Skywarp had to do was teleport and he'd be free from both the bridge and the harpoon. The seeker was still taking in the situation, he hadn't quite grasped where he was or what had happened to the ship. It took a good few minutes of staring before he recognised the control room in its barely illuminated, damaged glory.

Skywarp's optics widened. He had- he'd been fighting Soundwave! The spymaster was nowhere in sight however but -the ship! Something bad had been happening and Soundwave had been the one who'd done it! By the looks of thing, the bad thing had ended up happening. Which wasn't good at all.

Megatron was going to be furious when he saw this.

It was the thought of his master's rage that at last prompted Skywarp into action. He did not want to be here when Megatron learnt of what has befallen his flagship. And Skywarp was smack bang in the centre of it all.

He activated his warp drive and it hummed to life. Something was a bit off with his co-ordinates - his internal GPS seemed to think that he was underwater of all things but Skywarp was so focused on getting out, he didn't realise what this meant for the ship just then. With a flash, the seeker vanished.

Skywarp hadn't teleported very far as his energon levels were getting low. He emerged in the sky above where the Nemesis had sunk. The seeker's heel thrusters engaged, though with some difficulty on the left one. Evidently, being crushed by the bridge had done it no favours. Most importantly however, his right hand was no longer pinned by the harpoon. It was still throbbing painfully away however, ever present.

Not that Skywarp was noticing any of these things. He was far, far too busy gawping at the sight beneath him.

The Nemesis, not the top of the ship but its belly was pointed towards the sky.

In the ocean.

There was only one thought in Skywarp's head:

Megatron was definitely going to kill them all for this.

[Starscream]

Starscream still couldn't work out what, exactly, had happened to make the Nemesis – a seemingly unbreakable and unsinkable fortress – crash into the ocean. He'd only minimally listened to the panicked chatter over the speakers in his rush to escape – and even then, what he had heard? Hadn't made much sense. Vehicons yelling about checking locations, screeching about gunfire. Their voices mixed in with others telling everyone to evacuate. The Vehicons he'd seen had seemed just as clueless as he did, running around like terrified chickens in a mad dash to flee and make sense of it all themselves. The Control Room had answers – if he had stayed to look a little harder, but unfortunately he hadn't, citing his own survival more important at that moment.

Had they been attacked? Had Knock Out done something? That bumbling priss of a Medic had zero reason to be in the Control Room. No... It couldn't have been Knock Out, he was reaching out toward Starscream, asking for help. They had to have been attacked. But by who? Starscream may have slept through the majority of what happened – but if there was a full-scale attack on the ship by the Autobots, surely he would've been made aware long before he'd been rudely jolted awake with a start.

Everything was so hazy and confusing, his processor racing, and yet still infuriatingly groggy due to the sedative he'd been given earlier. Hopefully, once he had made it to safety, he could try to begin piecing together just what had happened, and try to get some sense of order back into the troops. Whatever it was, had to have happened fast. Were the Autobots really that underhanded? Using the guise of the Truce to sneak aboard and try to take out the Decepticons once and for all? Were they even capable of such a thing? They'd managed to sneak aboard before, so anything was possible.

It was with these thoughts that Starscream closed his optics as he launched the shuttle from the Nemesis. The shuttle would get him to safety, wherever safety was – and he would take this moment to rest, trying to shake the groggy feeling. Sadly, however, the escape shuttle seemed to have other ideas. Call it instant karma for Starscream shoving aside many a Vehicon to commandeer the shuttle for himself, or just awful bad luck - it pushed through the inky black void of the ocean, but didn't launch upwards to breach the surface. The small, dinky boosters of the shuttle failed to activate fully – and was effectively a rather terrible submarine - going forwards, rather than up.

-

THUD

Once again, Starscream found himself rudely jolted awake. Just like he had been earlier on the Nemesis. A quick glance around revealing nothing. It was pitch black, wherever he was, and there were alarms sounding from inside the tiny, cramped cockpit, and an annoying high-pitched hissing noise from somewhere behind him. He scrambled upright in the seat, fully awake now. He'd move to start pressing buttons on the small command console to try and work out exactly just where he actually was – and how much time had passed.

Ah. This was not good. It didn't take him long to work out that he was no better off than the Nemesis itself. He was still under the ocean, having crashed into the seabed somewhere; and was now stuck in this cramped little shuttle – and judging from the alarms that were sounding, and the hissing noise that he still hadn't worked out the source of? He'd been down here for a long while.

Not only had the Nemesis failed, but its shoddy, good for nothing escape shuttles seemed to be completely worthless. The pride and joy of the Decepticon Fleet? No... More like further evidence of Megatron's shortcomings. None of this would've happened if Starscream were in charge, and he hoped those other poor souls who were no doubt stuck in these ridiculous shuttles would have come to the same conclusion.

Which was all the more reason to get out of here.

First, he tried the shuttles built-in comm system – just on the off-chance that someone may be close enough to help him out of this predicament. Sadly, this attempt proved futile and there was nothing but angry static – which was met in turn with an angry curled up fist slamming into the console, and more than a few choice panicked curse words.

He should've just fled through an airlock. Switched to his alt-mode and flown to safety himself! If you want to fly somewhere? You do it yourself. Why he trusted this clunky, cramped, and awkward shuttle was beyond him. Hindsight was a beautiful thing.

Second, he would try to open the door. Basic physics prevented this, however, due to the immense pressure from the outside. The shuttles may have been useless at doing their job, but at least it'd held steady and not let any water inside. Which was also proving to be an annoyance, because that is exactly what Starscream now needed to happen.

At least that would be easy to arrange, and he'd quickly scramble as far back as he could. There was a small noise of transformation as one servo shifted into an energon blaster – which he would fire at one of the front windowed panels of the shuttle. This was both risky and stupid, and yet it seemed to work in Starscream's favor. Maybe his luck had turned. The reinforced glass fractured, before shattering entirely – water began flooding into the shuttle quickly.

Starscream had to move fast, and he quickly found the water up to mid-shin as he began to stride back toward the door, shifting his servo back to normal as he moved. Here, he would wait until the entire 'room' had been completely submerged. And then he would try the door.

It didn't work.

A frantic, gurgled squawk left him. He was claustrophobic at the best of times, but being trapped underwater in this cramped little space with no way out was quickly becoming terrifying. Desperately, he would try the door once more – pushing what little weight he had against it with all the strength he could muster.

The door opened – and Starscream pushed himself out, where he would immediately kick off from the seabed and push himself upwards. Thankfully he wasn't as deep as he first thought, but still, would make haste as he swam upwards – not wanting to risk shifting to his alt-mode while completely submerged.

He breached the surface of the waves, and would frantically look around for someone. Anyone else. There was nobody that he could see. At least not from here. The almost-blinding mid-day sun was overhead, meaning he had been down there for far, far too long. He couldn't see the Nemesis – but a quick scan revealed it to be South of his current location. He'd push up from the water, shifting into his alt-mode as he quickly made his way over to the sunken ship.

It didn't take him long to travel the distance, and it was here that he saw one of his own. Skywarp. He made his way over, hovering nearby to the other seeker. He noticed near instant that Skywarp was hurt, and seemed to be having some difficulty with his left heel thruster as he lingered far above the Nemesis.

"Skywarp!" He honestly sounded relieved as he spoke – although that was no doubt due to his own situation, rather than seeing the other seeker. "What is going on!? Were we attacked? Was it the Autobots?" Short questions. To the point. Not that he imagined the rather childish mech knew much of anything of use, but Starscream would take anything at this point.

[Deleted]

Megatron was definitely going to kill them all for this.

It was the only thought that ran through Skywarp's processor for a long time. The Nemesis had crashed. They had lost the ship. The Decepticon warlord was going to murder them with he found out.

It was difficult to say how long Skywarp hovered there as his mind boggled and struggled to comprehend the amount of screwed upness he was in. Because this? This was the biggest failure he'd ever experienced in his long life and it was messing with his head haaard.

Though really, that could also be the damage from having a bridge dropped on him slowing down his mind.

Eventually, he heard the sound of a high powered engine and that broke him from his stupor. Skywarp peered around and caught sight of a jet rocketing towards him. It looked familiar, which stayed his hand but it wasn't until it spoke that Skywarp realised he was dealing with the Decepticon air commander.

Which…wasn't as bad as dealing with Megatron but probably the second worst commanding officer to be caught by, hanging over the remains of the Nemesis. Still, Starscream wanted to know what happened. And while unbeknownst to the smaller seeker, he'd picked one of the few people that had been involved with the whole incident, he was still asking Skywarp to provide a cohesive explanation.

The teleporter blinked. A throb of pain went through his head as he struggled to recall everything that happened. Energon dripped from the wound in his hand.

"It wasn't Autobots," he answered, going for the easy question. Then he thought about it and concluded that you know what, last night had been so crazy that it wouldn't surprise him if there had been Autobots involved. "I mean, at least, I don't remember seeing any. It was Flatline. No. Soundwave. Uh. Both of them. Maybe. I don't know."

He shrugged, then regretted the movement as it sent a fresh bolt of pain through him. Skywarp hissed unhappily and nearly 'lost his balance' in the air, he'd accidentally angled a thruster a little too steeply. It took him a few more moments to correct this before he was able to continue. The seeker had also lost his train of thought…not that it was going anywhere useful.

"I um. Knock Out sent out a distress message? Something about Flatly- Flatline needing to be…" Skywarp pursed his lip plates. "Beaten up? No that came later. After he shot me." The seeker sneered at this before announcing in a matter-of-fact voice, "I'm going to tear off all his arms when I see him again for that. Can I do that, Starscream, please? He harpooned my hand."

Regaining course, slightly, "Anyway, I went looking for the spindly mech cuz Knock Out asked. Oh wait, I got to punch Breakdown as well," here Skywarp cackled at this. "He hit me first though," he added after a second to make it clear that hey, he'd been within his rights for do that. "Anyway, I went looking for Flatly, found Flatly, Flatly did this amazing roll - hey you know the spindly mech could do this weird, turn into a wheel transformation? I didn't he could do that - it was amazing. Why had no one told me he could do that? I would have totally dropped him onto the flight deck that one time I grabbed him off the Nemesis."

The levity had not left his voice when Skywarp added, "Oh, then he shot me with a harpoon." Because, come on, the wheel thing? It was still hilarious and just thinking about it was enough to brighten the whole affair about his hand. "I teleported and kicked him aaaand then Knock Out came along and was boring. He and Breakdown came and interrupted my fight -" at that point, it had about to be a brutal one-sided beat down really, "-for no good reason! Then they ran off because Soundwave was being weird."

Skywarp pulled a face. "Did I mention Soundwave was there? Because he was. And he was being weird. Weirder than normal. So were the Vehicons. Did I mention them as well? Because they were acting weird too. It was a whole party of weirdness. Everybody was running around, then Megatron was yelling, then the Vehicons were yelling on the comm channels, then Knock Out told me Breakdown had attacked him, so I decided to go help him with that, picked up Flatly to take with me - did I mention that they had left Flatly-Flatline with me only he was unconscious because I was standing on him? Anyway, so I got to the command centre and I threw Flatly at Breakdown and was about to do a really cool punch when Breakdown got ground bridged out so the spindly mech flew through the air and smacked into Knock Out who'd been thrown by Soundwave, as it turned out. It was actually really cool to watch."

The seeker paused for a moment and basked in that memory. The spymaster was weird and freaky but it had been an amazing move, even Skywarp had to admit that. "Anyway, the ship started to..." Skywarp winced and gestured with his uninjured hand to the sad warship beneath them. "Tip. And Soundwave was plugged into the consoles and not doing anything to make it stop tipping. Knock Out was calling Lord Megatron for help but the ship was still tilting. But it was Soundwave-" Skywarp's voice went small as he struggled to comprehend this. There were few constants in the universe and the spymaster's loyalty to the Decepticon warlord was one of them. "He always does what Megatron says but crashing the ship? Megatron wouldn't have ordered that."

Skywarp brightened momentarily and his voice regained its strength. "So yeah, I was like, I'll take him on cause I've always wanted to fight him, you know? I almost got him too but ending up grabbing Laserbeak instead. Crushed the cassette though," he cackled. "I don't remember what happens much after that, think the bridge dropped on top of me since the ship was upside by that point."

[Starscream]

Three simple questions. That was all he'd asked. While he hadn't expected Skywarp to know anything of value, or to give him any real information on what'd happened, he had the unfortunate luck of being the first person Starscream had ran into.

He'd hover in his alt-mode, with the nose of the jet pointing directly at Skywarp as if staring him down intently as he awaited the answers to his questions. While here, he saw more of the extent of Skywarp's injuries, and part of him was curious as to what'd actually happened to the other seeker – although he was sure that he'd get the answer to this internal question before too long.

It wasn't Autobots. Okay well, that was a... Good start. Sort of. Except not really – if it wasn't Autobots it means something else had happened to make the Nemesis sink. He continued to listen quietly. Flatline? Soundwave? Both of them?

Soundwave. His thoughts lingered on that name. There was no way. No way that Soundwave would do anything like this. The Nemesis was Megatron's pride and joy! Soundwave was Megatron's lapdog who could do no wrong, there was no way he would do anything to befall the Decepticon cause. He was basically the living embodiment of the Decepticon cause! A frustrated, but quiet growl left him as he thought more on it – although Skywarp almost losing his balance in the air would snap his attention back to the 'story' being told.

He sort of regretted asking. But he did have to know what'd happened while he'd been in recharge – and luckily he was more than used to Skywarp and his drawn out ramblings. Didn't make it any less annoying to decipher to get the important points out've, though, but he would still listen. He hadn't heard the distress message from Knock Out, hell he hadn't heard much of anything.

“No.” Came the simple reply to Skywarp's question about tearing off Flatline's arms. “His punishment will come in time if he did have something to do with this. We'll deal with that later. Continue.”

If he wasn't in his alt-mode, this would've been the part where he facepalmed. He wanted to know what happened to the ship, not about punching Breakdown or the fact that Flatline could roll around. Instead, he would vent out a sigh – although would let Skywarp continue on regardless, as he didn't want to interrupt and break this train of thought - which would've no doubt made Skywarp miss out on some crucial detail to this tale.

So the wound in Skywarp's servo came from Flatline shooting him with the harpoon. He... Hadn't said why Flatline had shot him, but that wasn't really important – and as such, he would not ask for further details. Knock Out was there... Breakdown was there... Come on Skywarp...

Then Soundwave was mentioned again. And the fact he was being 'weird'. Immediately his interest piqued once more.

At least Skywarp was telling the truth about the Vehicons. He'd heard the garbled yells over the comm channels himself – they made little to no sense. Which meant the rest of this strange story was probably true, too. Then again Skywarp had no reason to lie... So...

Breakdown got bridged out by Soundwave, and... Knock Out had been thrown by Soundwave. That still didn't clue him in any on what'd happened to the ship, but he was concerned as to why Soundwave of all mechs had attacked two of his own. Had Knock Out and Breakdown done something? Not getting the full story didn't help, but he could half piece it together – sort of.

One thing was for certain, though. Soundwave had done this. A smug feeling of glee washed over Starscream as he realized this and it was further cemented. Sure he was not perfect himself, and had the occasional tiny flaw, but even he had not messed up this badly. Megatron was going to be furious – and for once it would not be with him!

“You're correct. Megatron would never have ordered this.” He commented briefly, letting Skywarp continue further. How much more of the story was there to tell?

Thankfully, not much.

“You did well trying to stop Soundwave, even if you were not exactly successful.” He'd warily glance down at the doomed ship beneath the waves. Were Soundwave and Knock Out still down there? Was Megatron still down there? While he knew once Megatron found out about Soundwave and what he'd done, Starscream would no doubt feel some of his Master's ire for not attempting to look for him. Or something.

“I saw the state of the Command Room – but did not see yourself or Soundwave. Only Knock Out, but he seemed to be fine.” He lied. Knock Out had been calling out for his help and had been subsequently ignored. “The bridge had collapsed, but I am glad that you are alright, aside from a few injuries.” That part wasn't a lie. If it wasn't for Skywarp, he probably wouldn't have known what'd happened – or at least not so soon, anyway.

He still had more questions. Such as why Soundwave had done this. There was no explanation he could think of off the top of his head that could warrant Soundwave crashing the ship – their home – into the Ocean. It obviously had not been planned, or evacuation proceedings would've been carried out much earlier. There wouldn't have been the panic. Megatron would've been there. There would've been some kind of warning.

He vented out another, long drawn out sigh. He probably should look for Megatron... If only to garner more favor over Soundwave at this rather opportune time to do so. Not that it would be hard at this point, but at least the effort would've been made – even if it wasn't going to be much of an effort to begin with.

He didn't really want to look for anyone. This was the opportune moment to assert himself and take control of the situation. But on the off-chance that Megatron was trapped down there, he wanted to do everything he possibly could to show that he'd given at least half a slag about his well being.

That could wait, however. As he did have more questions.

“We should probably start searching for Megatron if you feel able. His yell means he is no doubt still on the ship, as I have yet to hear from him... However, first - answer me this, what do you mean Soundwave was being weird?”

He could've just asked why Soundwave had crashed the ship – but that was probably one question that Skywarp did not know the answer to. If he could clarify the 'weirdness' then maybe it would help him piece together this all too confusing, if oddly satisfying, puzzle.

[Deleted]

Skywarp pulled a face at his request being denied. Come on, Flatline had shot him! The seeker was well, within his rights to inflict payback - or at least, Skywarp believed so. It could be argued that he'd already had his vengeance, considering the amount of damage that had been dealt on the medic by Breakdown and Skywarp.

Still he wasn't going to argue over this, not when there were far more important matters at hand. Even Skywarp could recognise that this situation was a ginormous mess. It provided him little comfort when Starscream agreed with him that Megatron wouldn't have allowed his ship to go down like this. Soundwave was almost an embodiment of the Decepticon cause. There was none more loyal than he. As yet to have done this…to have done this…

Skywarp couldn't make sense of it. Nothing about it made sense at all.

He'd perk a little, when Starscream said he'd done well. At least the Air Commander hadn't held his failure to stop Soundwave agains. Of course, the blame game might end up being played later but Skywarp wasn't thinking about that, he was focussed on the now.

The big seeker tilted his head curiously- he hadn't seen Starscream anywhere near the bridge. Then again, so much had been going on in those last frantic moments, that this wasn't surprising. Knock Out had been doing well, at least, he had been last Skywarp had seen him, so the seeker had no reason to doubt his Air Commander's word. Though Knock Out had not been down in the control room when he woke up so perhaps the mech had figured out a way to escape.

Skywarp's damaged hand was throbbing painfully and he cradled it carefully with his other hand. He was, honestly, quite exhausted and while he'd usually be keen to take on a mission, he regarded Starscream's suggestion to search for Megatron with a bit of resignation. His hand…it needed to be looked at and the harpoon removed. The seeker would have ripped it already except that would add on more damage. Skywarp could only ignore it for so long and while he'd keep going if need be, the pain would be an uncomfortable and insistent reminder.

However, first - answer me this, what do you mean Soundwave was being weird?”

Skywarp blinked tiredly. It took him a few moments to respond as he tried to remember. "He uh, walked right past us. Ignored us," Skywarp paused for a moment before he realised that that on its own didn't make much sense or explain anything. "Knock Out had put out a distress message, right? That Flatline needed to be brought down. And I did! Had brought Flatline down -cept KnockOut and Breakdown were ruining my fun- when Soundwave showed up. You'd think he was there for the commotion but nope, just-" Skywarp gestured towards his head, "did his face thing, then walked past and ignored everyone."

"Soon as he was round the corner, I think someone yelled and then there was a bang, like something had been thrown to the ground. Got no idea what it was," Skywarp shrugged. "Then there were some Vehicons running after him - again, no clue why."

[Starscream]

Starscream noticed the pulled face – and couldn't help but scoff quietly. There was still plenty of time for punishments to be handed out for what'd happened, meaning Skywarp may have his chance for some 'fun' yet... Or at the very least, he'd get to watch. That could, and would all come later, however – as he still had to get to the bottom of what exactly had happened and find out just who it was that was to blame for all this mess.

What was mildly concerning – and he never thought he'd ever have this thought cross his processor – was that Megatron was still silent. There'd been no orders barked over the comms, no furious demands made in an attempt for whoever did this to step forward and own up. There was nothing. He thought for sure that when he'd made his way back over to the ship, that Megatron would be here, and there would be some kind of order and attempts to salvage whatever they could.

But... It was just Skywarp here, and the gentle sound of the ocean below. Was this all that was left...? Surely others had to have survived this!

He'd given the other Seeker praise where praise was due – and while he may play the blame game later at Skywarp's inability to actually stop Soundwave, he had tried and had shown some initiative there, and that was at least worth half a gold star or a kind word. Plus, praising the other mech would hopefully mean he'd be more inclined to help Starscream in the search and recovery of their Lord – because that would no doubt earn him more praise too!

He shuddered just slightly at the thought of actually going to look for Megatron. But there was some satisfaction in knowing that there was still a chance they may not even find him.

He made a note of how Skywarp cradled his damaged servo. He should probably help assist with that sometime soon – although they'd have to find somewhere to land, first. He couldn't do much in his alt-mode. Even in his root-mode, he wouldn't be able to do much other than make an attempt of yanking out the harpoon – but it would be a start at least. Sadly, though, he had no medical supplies for a quick patch-up of the wound, and he wasn't sure that a patch-up would even help.

Damnit, maybe he shouldn't have left Knock Out behind. The Medic could've actually been of some use here...

Ah well. A problem for later.

As Skywarp started speaking once more, he'd turn his attention back to him. Hovering and still staring at him intently with the nose of the jet. At first, it all sounded... Honestly quite normal. Soundwave quite often walked past and ignored others on the ship. But as Skywarp continued? Ah, that was a little strange. If there was a commotion in the corridor, the spymaster would've at least stopped to do that loomy, silent, judgy thing he was so very fond of doing. The fact Vehicons had been chasing him meant that maybe they knew more about this than Skywarp did. The problem was he didn't know where any Vehicons actually were. Nor was that high on his list of priorities right at this moment.

“Interesting.” He'd creep backward, flying ever so slowly as he hummed in thought. “I appreciate you filling me in. Let's get that harpoon out your servo, hm? Then we can go from there, I suppose...”

He'd pause, both in his movements and his sentence.

“Are you alright to fly? Or do you need... Assistance... Back to solid ground...” He grimaced some as he spoke, and it was evident in his tone that he may have regretted even asking. He wasn't doing this out of the kindness of his spark, but would help the other mech back to land should he so need it – if only to get this over with faster.

After he asked, he'd move forward just slightly once more toward the other mech, and would angle himself as if giving the indication that Skywarp could grab onto him should he so choose. Although if Skywarp knew what was good for him, he'd decline this rather rare offer of help and make his way over to land by himself. Still, the option was there.

[Deleted]

Getting rid of the harpoon in Skywarp's hand sounded like a fantastic idea. Only problem was that Starscream wasn't exactly a trained medic, which Skywarp would much rather have right now. Even over his usual distaste for them. Still, Starscream had two hands to work with and they were much smaller than Skywarp's, so whatever job they'd end up doing, it'd be better than what he'd accomplish on his own. The circumstances right now were dire, so he was going to take what he could get.

With the harpoon in his hand, his alt-mode wasn't an option, lest he wanted to damage himself further by messing up his transformation sequence. Skywarp had been thinking that he was going to have to fly back to land with his heel thrusters alone, a slow and unwieldy task. It was not ideal, he'd much rather teleport there but his energon levels were low and with the Nemesis out of commission, he didn't want to waste any more. The Air Commander's offer was a surprise, even more so that he sidled up to the big seeker, angled in a way that invited Skywarp to grab on to him.

The big seeker swung his undamaged hand down and gripped the top of Starscream's alt mode without a second thought. Then his processor caught up with him and he hesitated. He only had one hand and would have to hold on tight with it- there was the possibility of accidentally damaging Starscream. The Air Commander would be furious with him and the mech could hold a grudge. Plus, could Starscream even manage what he was proposing? Skywarp's processor distractedly ran the calculations while he backed away. The chances of it did not seem good.

"I think I should be fine!" he said. And to back up that up, he angled his heels to start moving. Skywarp quickly consulted his internal GPS to find the closest land-mass. Once he had a direction, off he went - with some difficulty from his left thruster.

[Starscream]

((Did some very minor puppeting, hope this is alright. Sorry for the delay!))
-
The moment that Skywarp's servo gripped the top of Starscream's alt-mode, it took everything in him not to flinch and pull away. He'd only offered to be polite! He didn't think Skywarp would actually take him up on the offer! There was absolutely no way that it'd even work! He braced himself, tensing up as if mentally prepping himself for the awful task of somehow carrying the much larger seeker back to solid ground without sinking into the ocean.

Luckily for the Second in Command, Skywarp seemed to have the same realization as he in that this wouldn't work at all – and just as swiftly as he'd moved to grip onto Starscream? He pulled away.

Thank Primus.

“If you're sure. The offer is still there, should you need it.” He commented, just to be civil. Skywarp didn't look like he was in any real state to move anywhere, but sadly they had no real choice. The sooner they got the harpoon from his servo, the sooner they could assess the rest of the damage to his frame and then go on with the original plan to try and find Megatron somewhere in the wreckage of the ship. Not that Starscream could really do much to help Skywarp. Basic first aid could only do so much, and it wasn't like they had any supplies to even do that.

As Skywarp began to slowly hover off toward land, Starscream would follow. Flying this slow was so unnatural to him, and felt so very wrong, but he'd linger behind the other mech just on the off-chance that his left thruster gave out entirely and Starscream was indeed needed to carry him back to land.

Thankfully, it all went without a hitch. The progress was slow, and there may have been some internal chiding from Starscream to maybe go a little bit faster we do not have all damn day here, but they eventually landed on a small, but quiet beach. Pebbles and small pieces of driftwood littered the shore. Once Starscream was certain that Skywarp wasn't about to stall out and crash into the ocean, he'd swoop ahead and shift seamlessly into his root-mode, landing gracefully as he waited – watching as Skywarp landed a few moments later.

“Alright, show me your servo so we can get this out of the way?”

He wasn't looking forward to this.

[Deleted]

Progress was slow going.

Heel thrusters weren't meant for long term journeys. For short breaks or hovering, yes. Suitable for travelling? Nope. Even Skywarp was getting bored and irritated at the speed. He wasn't a fast mech in the air, wasn't really built for it but the pace was infuriating. It didn't help that every odd gust of wind that caught his frame and shifted his arm meant yet another jolt of pain from his hand. He cradled it awkwardly with his other arm, careful to avoid messing up his balance, but even so, it wasn't enough to keep it still.

Not to mention, Starscream was right behind him. The Air Commander had to be fuming at this. Skywarp would have been humming to himself, to at least keep him occupied but with Starscream at his back, he figured he was already trying the Commander's patience enough as it was. So it was a slow, long, painful, silent and awkward as frag flight back to solid ground.

Eventually, a shoreline came into view and Skywarp headed for the beach with relief. Starscream swooped ahead of him with an ease that the bigger seeker could only envy at this point in time. He descended and was so eager to get groundside, he didn't even wait until he'd cleared the water and reached the actual sand - soon as he figured he was close enough, he dropped that last few metres. His feet plunged into the shallows with a hiss - the heat from his thrusters boiled and steamed the cold water. Even though Skywarp had already spent a good portion of the day lying away in sea water, this didn't bother him, because the journey was over.

He looked over to Starscream when he was addressed and blinked. Then raised his right hand carefully and held it out to the Air Commander.

His hand was a mangled, salt encrusted mess. A truncated chain hung beneath it. The delicate inner mechanisms inside Skywarp's hand had been shredded by the harpoon that jutted out it of it. But it wasn't held as tightly as it was when it had first made itself home - Skywarp had really not gone easy on his hand when he really should have. Not that there had been much opportunity to, what with the crashing ship. But too many sharp movements and jolts had caused the post of the harpoon to wear away at the inside of the wound, making the hole bigger than it had been originally.

Still - removing it was going to be messy.

And very, very painful.

[Starscream]

Starscream shifted his weight as he landed, looking down in dismay as he sank just slightly into the wet sand. Still, it was better than where he'd been moments prior – which was stuck under the ocean. It wasn't ideal, not by any means, but at least it was solid ground.

He watched as Skywarp landed with a splash and sizzle in the shallows, nodding once to the other seeker. He'd done well to make it this far on his thrusters alone – then again Starscream wasn't sure if that was because Skywarp was being stubborn, or because he knew damn well that Starscream wasn't happy about the idea of carrying him back to land and had been too scared to ask for assistance.

Starscream's optics would narrow just slightly as the servo was raised and held out toward him. It looked... Beyond painful, actually. If it'd happened to someone with dainty, smaller servos – like Starscream – there wouldn't be much of a servo left. How he'd managed to go this long without screeching in pain or causing a huge fuss was actually quite commendable.

“And explain to me again why Flatline did this?” He murmured. It wasn't unheard of that sometimes fights would break out amongst the troops, but why the spindly scientist would go up against someone much bigger than himself was strange. Skywarp had sort of explained it earlier, but then gotten distracted about the fact Flatline had rolled around, and hadn't actually gotten to the reason why Flatline had attacked to begin with. Infact, now that Starscream had a moment to recollect what Skywarp had actually said, none of it really made much sense at all. At least here on the beach they could talk as a distraction from the no doubt imminent pain that Skywarp was about to be put through.

He'd reach forward to gently take the injured servo in both of his, tilting it just slightly to get a better look. He was trying to be careful, not wanting to jerk the limb and hurt Skywarp anymore than he already was. He did need him, after all.

He wasn't sure how to go about this exactly. Wiggle the harpoon out gently and go slow with the entire thing, or just yank it out quickly – something akin to ripping off a very, very painful band-aid.

A nervous chuckle left him, before he cleared his throat gently.

“Well, given the situation... I think easing it out is probably the best course of action here.” He had no idea what he was talking about, he was no trained medic! He wasn't sure which method would be best. But he knew which one he'd rather. “The upside is that extra damage will be minimal. The downside is that it'll... Ah... Take a while to remove.”

He'd gingerly wiggle the harpoon some, to see if it'd give a little. With one servo holding onto Skywarp's, the other would begin gently easing the harpoon down further.

This was going to take a long time indeed. Time that he was more than happy to spend standing here removing the harpoon. If Megatron was trapped down underneath the ship? He could use this time to think about how badly he had messed up in allowing something like this to happen to begin with!

Soundwave may have crashed the ship, but this was all Megatron's fault.

[Deleted]

Skywarp's gaze had fixed on the beach behind Starscream. It was going to hurt, he knew. It had been hurting. It had been hurting since Flatline had shot a harpoon through it. At first his rage had dulled the pain and buried the worst of it, so he'd been able to react and bring down the spindly mech. But the anger had faded when Knock Out and Breakdown had interfered and in the face of all the confusion, he hadn't been able to bring it back.

He'd kept going because while excruciating, the wound wasn't life-threatening. At least, not yet. And he'd kinda assumed that it'd be fixed at the end of it, once Flatline had been brought down, Knock Out would be able to tend to his hand. Only, that hadn't been the end of it, the whole mess with Soundwave had rendered the medical aid Skywarp had assumed he'd get inaccessible. So, push on it was, ignore the agony as best as he could. Grim as that was, he had no other options and even with Skywarp's simple mind, he knew that sitting around and complaining about it would not accomplish anything when they had things to do. And he did have his pride as a Decepticon warrior - he wasn't going to scream or whimper in pain if he could avoid it.

Whimper in pain though, he did, when Starscream grasped his hand and tilted it gently, sending an electrifying jolt through his systems. A sharp hiss escaped Skywarp and he kept his optics locked on the beach as he ran the Air Commander's question through his head. He trembled once but fought to control his body's reactions. He was strong! He was Skywarp! It hurt a lot but he wasn't going to show it!

Besides, Starscream hadn't even tried to remove the harpoon yet and that was definitely going to hurt a lot worse than this!

"Flatline was kinda…" Skywarp blinked as he tried to focus on the question and ignore his throbbing wound. "...savage? Knock Out had said...said he'd gone crazy. As far as I know - " Skywarp almost shrugged here until he remembered that Starscream had his hand and that really wouldn't end well. "That's what happened."

His gaze briefly dropped down to Starscream's face as the mech outlined what he was going to do. Skywarp knew less than Starscream did about medicine but it was his opinion that it'd be better to do it quickly. Get it done as soon as possible - it would be an agonizing burst of pain but at least it would be done soon rather than prolonging the pain. And perhaps Skywarp should sit down, so that Starscream would have more leverage to work with?

Before he could voice any of these thoughts, Starscream had wiggled the harpoon and the big seeker gave a pained grunt, caught unprepared. Tiny beads of energon swelled around the harpoon's post. It seemed the Air Commander had decided on what he was doing and this point, Skywarp wanted nothing more for the ordeal over and done with.

He lifted his head and glared a hole into the sand behind Starsceam. Still he could not help the occasional hiss, wheeze or cry that escaped him as Starscream began the long and agonizing process of dislodging the harpoon from his hand. It would not take long before the post was slick again with Skywarp's energon, making it difficult to grasp properly. The energon ran down Skywarp's fingers, dripping into the water and would coat Starscream's long, slender claws as he worked. More than once, Starscream would slip and yank the harpoon a little too hard or in the wrong way, causing a sickening crunch as the harpoon caused further damage and prompted those pained noises from the big seeker. He would flinch, a full body shake and he'd have to fight down the urge to smack away the source of his pain. Hitting Starscream would be satisfying in the short term but it would mean jostling his hand and making it even worse and it would delay ending this whole, miserable ordeal.

Somehow, he was able to hold onto those thoughts until the end. Eventually, the harpoon gave one last sickly plop, the truncated chain rattled the gaping, dripping hole in Skywarp's hand and then it was free. The big seeker closed his optics for a moment as his head spun - the energon loss left him lightheaded. He slowly pulled his hand out of Starscream's grip, then tiredly took a few steps forward to shallower water, onto the beach, completely ignoring whatever the Air Commander was up to. Slowly, Skywarp folded on himself and lowered himself to the wet sand. He sat with his legs folded up, his head resting on his knees and his uninjured arm curled around his head. The wounded hand, he held up beside him, in case Starscream had more work to do.

His optics slid shut again. Skywarp's air intake rattled harshly.

[Starscream]

“Savage? Didn't know he had it in him.” He mused aloud. The Medics on the Nemesis seemed to prefer to fight with sarcasm and sassy comments, rather than actually doing any form of close combat. The answer was troubling regardless, even if it didn't offer any real insight as to why it happened. Still - the question remained, what had happened to make Flatline snap, and was it related to the crashing of the ship. Furthermore, where was their glorious leader in all of this? The silence from him was becoming troubling.

Maybe there would be answers to all these questions on the ship itself, which... If the removal of the harpoon went well, they could investigate further in their search for Megatron - if Skywarp was up for some extra exploring, anyway. The thought did cross his mind to maybe send out a comm to find out exactly where everybody else was, but that could come in due time – the silence might've been a good thing. No news is good news! They were obviously somewhere safe, or there would be incessant crying and whining over the comm. He'd make contact with the others later, he decided. First, he had to get this harpoon out of Skywarp's servo. Then, he had to make some kind of effort at finding Megatron. If he found him? He would be praised for doing well! For hanging back and searching! He could be regarded a hero! But if he couldn't find him? Well... Things would get very interesting indeed.

All the more reason to take his time with this. Just incase Megatron was trapped, or mere moments from certain death. No, he didn't want to rush this – hoping to buy himself some precious time while their leader succumbed to his possibly gruesome fate on the doomed ship.

The gentle test wiggle, and the pained grunt that followed, snapped him from his wonderful daydream – and he'd again focus on the task at hand.

This was harder than he thought it'd be, and he was reminded of such with every pained wheeze, hiss and whimper that escaped the other seeker. He was sorry, he really was, but this had to be done – and he'd already started at this slow, careful pace. He didn't want to rip it from Skywarp's servo and hurt him even more and risk him bleeding out. He was oddly silent while working. Unlike Knock Out, who preferred to talk and chatter away while he worked on his patients? Starscream was trying to concentrate. The furrowed brow and look of complete concentration was evidence of this.

He was being as careful as he could, but he was certainly no medic. He wasn't trained in anything like this, meaning every so often his servos would slip – it was hard not to! The harpoon and his servos were slick with Energon; that, and the angle he was working with was awkward to begin with! The almost sickening crunch sounds that followed these wrong moves made him wince in turn, and he'd cast a wary gaze to the other seeker as he flinched and shook – knowing full well that if he made too many of these mistakes, Skywarp probably wouldn't be able to hold back in lashing out. Mumbled apologies were made, but he would keep going.

Thankfully, these slip-ups happened less and less the further the harpoon was pulled. Soon, with one last gentle tug, the harpoon was freed from the injured limb. Starscream tossed it aside and it landed with a clatter on the wet sand, and it would be then that he vented out a long sigh of relief – almost like he'd been holding his breath for the majority of the 'procedure'.

He would make no move to stop Skywarp from pulling away, nor would he prevent him from moving to sit. It was probably for the best, all things considered – he'd lost quite a bit of Energon. Although Starscream wouldn't let him rest long, as they did have things to do. The position of which Skywarp had shifted to made him frown, and he'd take a cautious half-step toward him.

He'd gingerly reach out with one servo to gently pat Skywarp on the head. A simple, awkward, but affectionate gesture to say without words that Skywarp had done well in sitting still and not lashing out - despite the painful slip ups.

His gaze would shift to the held up servo, and he'd move his own to rest on his hips as he thought. They should probably find something to wrap the limb with, but what? Brilliant crimson optics would immediately dart downwards to look at the beach, and he squinted at the seaweed that littered some of the pebbles. It wasn't a mesh, nor would it really be of any benefit – but it might help stop the bleeding for all of five seconds.

Maybe they would have to forego searching for Megatron after all. There was no way Skywarp could enter the ocean with his servo the way it was, and Starscream certainly wasn't about to go down there alone.

Looping his arms behind his back he'd stride over to stand next to the other seeker, gaze outwards over the ocean.

“What we do next is up to you, given the state of your servo,” He commented quietly, turning his helm to look at Skywarp and his held up servo as he spoke. “We can wrap your servo with seaweed to help stem the bleeding and locate the others, who may be nearby, or…” He'd look out over the ocean once more. “We go down to the ship to find possible trapped survivors, and hopefully Lord Megatron.”

He hummed quietly in thought, gaze still lingering on the waves as they rolled in the distance. He didn't care which option was picked, which was why he left it up to the other seeker. Giving Skywarp the option to decide what they did next would buy him a little time, and would probably make the other seeker feel important, if only for a moment. If Megatron hadn't been barking orders over the comm by now, he was probably indisposed and unable to do so anytime soon. Tragic.

[Deleted]

One of the very first things Skywarp had learnt in his long life was not to move when a medical procedure was being carried out, no matter how much it hurt. Because the alternative always, always inevitably was worse. It was a life lesson he'd carried with him from the days of being a science experiment. He hadn't been able to comprehend much then, with his sensors and processor constantly overloaded from the input from his warp drive but pain - that always cut through everything else and couldn't be ignored. Sometimes the scientists got it wrong and would mess something up that caused even more pain but more often than not, they'd been right.

He'd leant on that a lot as Starscream went through the excruciating procedure of removing the harpoon from his hand. Now that it was done, he wanted nothing more than to lie down and drop into stasis. Instead, Skywarp forced away the dizziness that clouded his processor. There was still more to be done - the Decepticons had just lost their flagship and they'd need to keep moving until they'd regrouped.

The big seeker perked a little from his daze and opened his optics as Starscream patted his head. It was a simple gesture and utterly unexpected. He didn't brush it off, too exhausted to worry about looking tough, just quietly accepted the affectionate action. Instead, Skywarp tried to relax his shoulders and ignore the throbbing from his hand, loosen the tension in his frame as Starscream moved to stand by him on the sand.

“What we do next is up to you, given the state of your servo. We can wrap your servo with seaweed to help stem the bleeding and locate the others, who may be nearby, or… We go down to the ship to find possible trapped survivors, and hopefully Lord Megatron.”

Skywarp blinked away the blackness that had crept into his vision as he mulled over the decision Starscream had given him. Look for others who had made it off the ship. Or go back into the Nemesis and try to find Lord Megatron. But it would mean taking the hole in his hand into the water and who knew what further damage that'd cause to it.

The seeker snorted to himself. Honestly, it didn't seem like his hand could get any worse. But he didn't like the idea of them leaving their master down in the depths of the sea just for the sake of his hand. Lord Megatron was worth far more than one of his limbs.

In the end, there really wasn't much of a choice to make.

"Lord Megatron," he croaked. "We go after him." Skywarp paused a moment and then cast a tired but speculative look over at Starscream. "If you had any spare energon, I could teleport us in and out. Avoid the water entirely. Otherwise..." he gave a one-armed shrug and lapsed off into the distance.

Well, it was obvious what they'd have to do otherwise.

[Starscream]

It turned out, Starscream did care which option was picked.

The moment Skywarp started with the word 'Lord' – Starscream grimaced slightly. It was something akin to the moment of flipping a coin to make a decision. For the brief, fleeting moment that the coin was airborne, you knew which option it was that you actually wanted.

Starscream didn't want to find Megatron at all.

Well, no... That was a lie.

He wanted to find Megatron dead.

It would be poetic, in a way. The crashing of their flagship, the pathetic crumpled frame of their leader found twisted and unresponsive among the wreckage. Starscream and Skywarp had done everything they could, honest, but Megatron was sadly too far gone, he could not be saved! It would be the perfect moment for Starscream to step up and rule, taking his rightful place and what he deserved. He would lead the Decepticons to glory – even without the added boon of the Nemesis to have a huge advantage.

Again he was getting ahead of himself. Still, good things came to those who waited. And he had done his fair share of waiting.

The corner of his lip curled into a subtle sneer, and he'd loop his arms behind his back – standing up a little straighter as he kept his gaze outwards over the ocean.

“What?” He side-glanced to Skywarp, frowning as he took in just what exactly the other Seeker had asked. “You think I had time to grab much of anything before the ship crashed!?” He squawked. “Can't you just get us in there and then raid the stores? Maybe if you warp us into the Medical Bay, I can do a better job of patching up your servo while we're at it.”

Maybe the promise of being patched up would be enough to sway Skywarp into at least trying. He didn't want to swim out there. He wasn't going to swim out there, and so he hoped Skywarp could muster the strength to get them both out there one last time – for both their sakes.

[Deleted]

Skywarp had no idea what his Air Commander had been up to during the lead up to the crash, while he and the others had been chasing Flatline and Soundwave about. Presumably Starscream had been up to something important, right, otherwise he would have come to investigate. Still, the big seeker had figured it was kind of a long shot, to hope that Starscream had some extra energon on him, because he really, really wasn't feeling so good.

But Lord Megatron needed them.

That was enough for him. Skywarp forced back another wave of dizziness. Spots danced in his optics and he blinked them away as he tried to focus on what Starscream was saying. Get them back into the ship, then raid the stores. Maybe even drop them directly into the medical bay so Starscream could fix his hand. It sounded like a good plan, Skywarp hadn't considered that there would be energon on the ship. Completely forgotten about it, in the daze he'd fallen into.

But - it hinged all on one thing.

Skywarp's ability to get them back into the Nemesis. He examined his self diagnostics tiredly, even though there was no chance at all that they had magically improved over the past few minutes. The answer that came back was negative and Skywarp sincerely doubted that he had enough left in him, for another jump.

For Megatron, he'd try anyway.

"Okay," Skywarp said. He unfolded himself slowly, forcing away the dizziness that made his head spin. Once he was upright again, he took a shaky step down towards the surf and peered into the distance, back the way they came. "We need to get back to the crash-site. Make it a short jump as possible."

The big seeker would have preferred just lying down and not getting up again. It seemed the better option than slugging it all the way back to the Nemesis crash site. But they had a job to do and stopping wasn't an option.

Skywarp dug deep into his reserves. Then he straightened up, broke into an unsteady run across the sand then folded into his alt mode and took off. It was not the most impressive take-off, indeed he barely managed to get himself back up into the air. Pain has wracked him as he transformed and folded his injured hand away. But what mattered in this case was that he'd made it. It took only a few moments before Starscream joined him in the sky with far greater ease.

This time, the journey was much faster, as Skywarp was not forced to use his root mode. It was not long before the two seekers approached the resting place of the great ship. Blue waves rippled far below, a massive dark navy shadow stretched out in the water beneath them. A crisp breeze blew in the air.

Skywarp began to slow down as they approached. He still had the co-ordinates from his original jump out of there. But - they needed to get to the med-bay now, not the command center. And the ship was upside and damaged, so he'd need to factor that in for his jump. He spent a few good minutes just scanning the Nemesis so he could be sure that he had the schematics right. It wouldn't do to teleport into a wall or floor because he got things wrong. The F-35 wobbled in the air a few times as he mapped out the new and upside dimensions of the ship.

Once he was confident he had a lock on where the med-bay should be, Skywarp transformed back to root mode, using his heel thrusters once again to keep him in the air. "Okay," the big seeker said. "Lets go." He gently glided up to Starscream's side and reached out to gingerly touch the Air Commander with his undamaged hand.

Just one touch, the smallest, lightest one. That's all he needed to whisk someone away with him when he teleported. The moment Skywarp's hand made contact with the wing of Starscream's alt, the two seekers vanished in a wink of light. The sky that had once been occupied by the two jets now was empty.

It was a sign of just how precise Skywarp's intuitive understanding of spatial dimensions was that they emerged a few feet above the ceiling of the medical bay. The ceiling which now served as the floor. The moment they appeared however, Skywarp's hand instantly fell away from Starscream as he unexpectedly dropped down those couple of metres through the air. The big seeker crashed to the floor in an unconscious heap, crushing whatever debris had gathered there during the impromptu landing.

He did not stir.