About a day, which doesn’t matter
Title: About a day, which doesn’t matter
Continuity: Transformers (G1 [Möbius Strip AU])
Warnings: some implied violence, implied slash
Character/Pairing: Prowl/Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Jazz (Hound, Wheeljack, Skywarp, Rumble)
Prompt: Caring
Rating: T
Summary: Perhaps Sunstreaker does care about Prowl… But this is just a theory.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.
Beta: ultharkitty
Note: Written for the 28 Sunstreaker meme.
About a day, which doesn’t matter
Sunstreaker was in a foul mood. He sat alone in the rec room, waiting for Hound, his patrol partner for the day. He took a small sip from his energon cube, and checked the weather forecast again. For now it wasn’t raining, but the human meteorological office had broadcast a storm warning, including heavy rain and wind.
“Wonderful!” he muttered, voice hushed, but Bluestreak heard him anyway and came to sit nearby.
“What’s wonderful?” the gunner asked with a smile, and Sunstreaker wondered if the Datsun was always in a good mood.
“The weather…” Sunstreaker answered sarcastically, and took another sip.
“Oh, why? What is with the weather? I mean, I was out until now and everything’s alright. A bit dark, though, but it’s winter, it seems to be normal on this planet. Wheeljack told me, the changing sunset and sunrise times are caused by a tilt of the earth’s axis, or something. I think it’s really funny to think this planet is wonky and…”
“Bluestreak…” Sunstreaker made a half-hearted attempt to stop the flow of words leaving Bluestreaker's vocaliser. He thought about mentioning Praxus and its Crystal Garden to stop the chatter, but Sideswipe was certain to find out, and he had no interest in dealing with his brother’s anger.
“..and did you know, on the other hemisphere it's summer now. This is so weird. I…”
“Bluestreak, please…” Sunstreaker nearly begged. It was much too early for his CPU to process all these words.
“Uhm, Sunn…” Bluestreak bit his lip and began anew, knowing the yellow twin hated to be addressed by his nickname. “Sunstreaker, is everything alright?”
“If you keep your mouth shut, yeah, it will be! How can you be even so awake after night patrol?” Sunstreaker raised a hand fast. “No, Wait, I don’t want to know!”
Bluestreak frowned. “Really funny… But hey…”
Sunstreaker growled quietly, but the Datsun ignored it.
“…look what I got yesterday!” Happily, he took a datapad out of his subspace and handed it to Sunstreaker. “I did six extra shifts, and gave a few lessons in shooting to get it. Cool, huh?”
Sunstreaker sighed, and skimmed over the pad; suddenly, his disinterest changed to genuine surprise.
“An official permission to densify high grade? From Prime?!”
Bluestreak nodded, visibly proud. “Yep. You know, I didn’t dare to ask Prowl. He can be so uptight, and high grade always is such a tender subject. But Prime was really nice, he just said I should do these shifts and lessons and maybe give him one or two cubes of it. Okay, honestly, the shooting lessons with Cliffjumper were a bit stressful, but perhaps he…”
“Do you even know how to make high grade?” Sunstreaker bluntly interrupted the monologue. He was sure that he wouldn’t test any of the energon.
“I don’t, but the permission isn’t for me. I wanna give it to Sides.”
“Well… fine. Whatever… I mean, why?” He couldn’t hide his confusion.
“Uhm… Valentine’s Day. It’s in three days, and I thought it’s a nice present, so…”
“Valentine’s Day?”
Tilting his head, Bluestreak answered slowly. “You don’t know? This human holiday every year on February 14th?”
“I didn’t know.” Sunstreaker replied indifferently. “Is it about this weird holy human again? What was so special of this guy? Did he catch a fish on this day a few thousand years ago? Or did he die or fly over a mountain or what?”
“I don’t really know, but the day where one of their holy guys died is called Easter. They celebrate it with rabbits, though the logic behind that is totally lost on me…”
“Why do they celebrate his death with rabbits? Are they happy he’s dead? Why do they even celebrate his birth?!” Sunstreaker confusion and tiredness turned to annoyance. He had serious problems to understand the humans. “Nah… Who cares!” He spat, and glanced towards the rec room door. Hound still hadn’t shown up.
A bit stunned by Sunstreaker’s outburst, Bluestreak shook his head. “Actually, it’s a day to celebrate love… or something. I have no idea what a Valentine is, though. But the humans give their family and loved ones presents and eat cake and chocolate or whatever it's called, and there’re parades at some cities and… so on. You know, I think it’s a kinda nice holiday and reason to have fun. Jazz and Blaster organised a party for the evening in the rec room. What do you plan to give Prowl?”
The last part caught Sunstreaker's attention. “Prowl?”
“Yeah, I mean, I know you didn't know about it before, but I might be able to help you with a present, if you want to. I don’t really know what he lik…”
“Why should I give anything to Prowl?”
“Are… aren’t you... I thought you’re with him.”
Sunstreaker raised an optical ridge. “What made you think that?”
“You two interface, don’t you?” Suddenly, Bluestreak appeared to be uncertain.
“We do, now and then. So what? That’s not a reason to give him anything.”
“You’re not… lovers?” The last word sounded cautiously as not sure which reaction it would cause.
“Lovers?” Sunstreaker laughed affectedly. “I wouldn’t call us that. We interface, we have fun, he doesn’t pull rank on me, I don’t play hard to get - for him - but it doesn’t imply it would mean anything. It’s not as if we care about each other, so why should I give him anything because of some stupid human holiday?”
Bluestreak nodded slowly. “Sure… Uhm, if you say so…”
The yellow twin gave him a wary glance. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… What if he gives you something? And then you have nothing, don’t you think he’ll be disappointed?”
“This is Prowl, we’re talking about. I hardly think he even knows how to spell ‘present’.”
“Yeah, certainly you don’t …” Bluestreak muttered, and changed the topic. “Did you know that older human cultures had more deities than just one? The Romans for example had a god for nearly everything like the sea, the hunt or the sky! And they had a little angel like being with little wings and a bow that inspires love. It was called Cupid and if he had chosen a couple, he shot an arrow at both people’s hearts and…”
“Don’t humans die if they get shot at the heart?” Hound burst in, smiling, making the Datsun and Sunstreaker flinch.
Grumbling, Sunstreaker cursed inwardly; he can't have been awake if he hadn't noticed the Jeep approaching.
Bluestreak murmured. “Well, yeah, but it was an arrow of love so…”
“Seems a bit unproductive to me…” Hound commented, amused, but couldn’t say anything more as the yellow twin got up.
“Can we go already?”
“Sure thing.” Hound waved at Bluestreak, who did the same, and followed Sunstreaker out of the room.
“Sorry that I’m late. I had an appointment with Prowl about some Decepticon activity we might come across. I’ll inform you on the road.”
“Whatever…” Was the short reply. Sunstreaker hid a devious grin; he wouldn’t say no to a few Decepticons on his patrol. He was looking forward to give them a few arrows of his love.
---
On Valentines Day, everyone on the Ark was busy.
The rec room’s redecoration began in the late morning, and there were only a few other mechs who, like Sunstreaker, weren’t fond of the human holiday celebration. These mechs covered the shifts for those who were occupied with the preparations.
Prowl nearly stumbled over a stack of weird-looking decorative materials when he entered the rec room to search for the chief engineer. He greeted Sunstreaker with a faint nod, as he passed the table where the Lamborghini sat trying to ignore the events around him.
“Wheeljack, I need a moment.” Prowl stated in a calm, stern tone. The Lancia looked up from the string of lights he was trying to untangle.
“What’s it, Prowl? Finally got the Valentine’s spirit and want to help us?” The vocal indicators flickered cheerfully.
“Actually, no. I'm having problems reading your writing.” He handed Wheeljack a datapad. “And even though I’m not ignorant about science, I don’t understand the complete capability of your space bridge jammer.”
Wheeljack frowned, as though having problems deciphering his own writing, before he answered: “Oh, yeah, right. You know Skywarp’s ability based on the space bridge, or vice versa, kinda, but it’s a totally different dematter frequency of…”
“Please, Wheeljack, don’t do a Perceptor on me. What does it mean, and please don’t use any words like ‘matter frequency’ or ‘stabilising wavelength’.”
“Right, sorry ‘bout that. It just means we can jam the bridge, but his ability’s still active. I can try to build another jammer, though. But I’d need some time, and maybe a piece of his armour. His plating must have changed over all the millennia using his ability to dematerialise and materialise again and again. I bet there’s an uncharacteristic…” he stopped when he noticed Prowls expression. “Well, yeah, I could build a universal warp-jammer, if it’s that what you want to know.”
“Thank you. Jamming their bridges is enough for now. Skywarp’s ability certainly makes him a menace, but it can’t be helped. And we've fought him long enough to know how to handle it.”
“Yeah, but Ratchet would be grateful. It’d mean less damage to the ‘bots.”
Prowl let out a sigh. “Believe me; I would be grateful, too.” With this, he gave Wheeljack a nod and left the room.
---
The sun set and the temperature slowly dropped, causing the water to freeze.
Sunstreaker cursed the icy roads, the changing seasons, and that conditions like this even existed on this planet. He had already lost his grip more than once, and drove slower than he wanted or was used to. Fortunately, he was alone on late patrol, and no one was there to witness his problems staying on the road.
It began snowing, and the wind blew the frozen precipitate across his windshield, blurring Sunstreaker's view. He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him, so he pushed his scanners to their maximum. This was the moment the Lamborghini began to think that he should have pretended to be interested in the holiday to avoid this shift and, furthermore, the weather.
He didn’t even wanted to know what all these things the humans used to give the road more grip, did to his paintjob. He already felt a prickling, where the muddy salt-snow-sand mix splashed against his undercarriage.
He was so preoccupied whining about his paintjob, that he nearly missed the dark figure, darting through the sky, only noticing it when it dropped to the ground.
Instinctively shielding his energy signature, Sunstreaker checked the street’s conditions and sped forward, nearly losing his grip as he did so.
---
Sunstreaker snuck, nearly soundless in the snow, to the place just off the road where he expected the crashed Decepticon to be. He didn’t know who exactly it was, but they didn’t block their signature, seemingly sure no Autobot would be on the road, so he knew at least their number.
A sudden flurry made it hard to identify which ‘cons sat close to the frozen lake, but Sunstreaker guessed it was a seeker and one of Soundwave’s cassettes, because of the seize difference. He hid behind a large boulder and listened in amusement to their argument.
“…and ya call yourself part of the elite trine?”
“Shut up, pipsqueak. It’s not my fault my rudders are iced up! Do you have any idea how it feels to have a frozen back?!”
Sunstreaker smirked and remembered the complaints of one of the Aerialbots when he nearly crashed because of the wind and snow, which had built a coat of ice over parts of his wings and tail.
“Oh, sure, Skywarp. Now it’s the weather…” The smaller con muttered, his voice barely audible to Sunstreaker. The Autobot frowned and remembered fractions of the conversation from Prowl and Wheeljack, which he had overheard earlier.
“Mute it and help me get off this mess! Or do you wanna walk back to base?”
“I can fly, too, ya know!”
“Of course, together with the device…” The seeker stopped mid-sentence, and his gaze wandered to Sunstreaker’s hideout. “Did you see that?”
“What d’ya mean?”
Both Decepticons spoke too low, and Sunstreaker couldn’t understand them, but he already had a plan. A contented grin flashed over his face when he saw the smaller one walking towards him.
Sunstreaker recognized him as Rumble. The ‘con came out behind the boulder, his optics visibly widening.
A mocking smile on his mouth plates, Sunstreaker spoke sweetly: “Hey buddy. Nice weather, ain’t it?”
---
He didn’t hobble, he just walked… slower.
It was the first thing that Prowl noticed about Sunstreaker when the mech entered the rec room; besides the copious amount of energon which covered the frontliner’s yellow armour.
The second difference was a dark piece of… something held by the twin, which Prowl couldn’t yet identify.
The music still echoed from the large speakers, but the activity in the room calmed, and there was hardly any mech who didn’t watch the frontliner walking towards Prowl, leaving a trail of energon across the floor.
The reactions ranged from annoyance to confusion, and in Ratchet’s case, confused annoyance.
The medic mumbled something unintelligible, drowned out by the music, before he looked, concerned, at First Aid, who was noticeably shocked by the unexpected sight.
Sunstreaker seemingly ignored the reactions and, to everyone's surprise, failed to pounce on Cliffjumper, who had made the kind of comment which usually incited the frontliner to jump on him.
When Sunstreaker came to a halt in front of Prowl, the interest of most mechs faded, and the Autobots went back to whatever they'd been doing before the interruption, although most kept an audio on the unusual pair.
“I assume that's not your energon?” Prowl said without greeting, surveying Sunstreaker and what he held.
“Most of it isn’t. Got a few hits, but it’s nothing serious.” He offered a shrug and a confident grin.
“You should go to medbay.” Trying to make sense of the situation, he glanced around, searching for Ratchet.
“Don’t need to. Just wanted to make my report before I go to my quarters.”
“Your report? Here? That’s…”
Sunstreaker interrupted the tactician boldly. “I’m tired and I’m not in the mood for your paperwork. So you get the short form: I was on patrol, saw Skywarp and a Cassetticon trying to deliver whatever device to big Megs. I attacked them, because they seemed… a bit stiff.” He chuckled softly at his own joke. “I don’t know what’s with Rumble, but I destroyed their weird device and battered the seeker.”
Still confused, Prowl nodded. “That’s… good.”
“I tried to rip out a wing, but when I touched them, the ‘con nearly went berserk, which was actually pretty droll. So I didn’t get a wing, but an arm.” Sunstreaker handed the piece of Skywarp’s armour to Prowl, who took it, stunned. “It’s quite fresh.”
“I can... see that.” The tactician said, and his optics tracked a drop of energon falling to the ground.
“Well, at least Skywarp won’t make any problems for a while. I also managed to disable his warping device.”
He nodded again, searching for words, but didn’t know what to say, so he just muttered: “Good work…”
“So, now excuse me, I’m tired and I have some energon lines and a paintjob to take care of.” Sunstreaker nodded goodbye and turned around, leaving behind a perplexed Prowl still holding the disembodied arm.
He sighed, exhausted. He was sure a bad processor ache was on its way when he saw Ratchet rush up to Sunstreaker, catching him just before he had the chance to leave. A few angry words were exchanged, before the medic grabbed the frontliner’s arm and pulled him out of the room.
It was one of these moments, in which Prowl wasn’t sure why exactly he was second in command of this mess.
“That’s what I call a personal present.”
Jazz’s words dragged Prowl back to reality, and he flinched. As usual, Jazz’s logic was lost on the tactician, and he looked at him in bewilderment.
“What do you mean exactly?”
“Well, a ripped off arm, apparently from a seeker, covered in energon, which is still dripping, I think that reflects Sunstreaker’s personality quite well.”
“I don't think this is in any way funny.” Prowl muttered.
“I never intended to make a joke.” Jazz's smile was far too cheerful; and when Prowl decided against a sharp comment in response, the saboteur continued. “And? Any idea what you‘ll give him?”
“Give what to whom?” This evening seemed to manufacture bafflement.
“Sunstreaker? He gave you a present. Don’t tell me you don’t want to give him anything in return.”
“That’s not a present. It’s a Decepticon’s arm!”
“What do you expect from Sunstreaker? A floral bouquet? So, it’s from Skywarp, isn’t it?”
Prowl’s logic circuits burned and worked overtime, though again he didn’t understand what Jazz meant. “Yes, and what should it tell me?”
“’Jack told me that he told you he’d need a piece of his armour to build another jammer, or something.”
“I still don’t understand. It’s more a present for Wheeljack than for me.”
“Primus! When ‘Jack told you that, ‘Streaker was in the room, too. Did you - maybe - say anything that makes ‘Streaker thinking you’d… approve of a piece of his armour and a few Skywarp-free cycles” Jazz's tone had become resolute, and it occurred to Prowl that even the saboteur's bright manner had its limits.
“That could be. Most likely he did it for the Autobot cause.” Prowl said, trying to find his own explanation.
“Sunstreaker doing something for the Autobot cause of his own account? Yeah, sure, whatever you say… Do you really think he threw himself at two Decepticons and the high possibility getting his paintjob scratched for the Autobot cause?” Jazz’s softly shook his head, and frowned behind his visor.
Tired, Prowl stared back at the dripping limb, and a few thoughts rushed over his processor.
“I should probably… take this to my office…” He spoke, glancing at Jazz, who smiled again.
“Yeah, you probably should.”
After a small gesture to the saboteur, he left.
He didn’t notice the small look exchanged between Jazz and Bluestreak; the two grinned, knowing and content.
Thank you for reading. :)
Continuity: Transformers (G1 [Möbius Strip AU])
Warnings: some implied violence, implied slash
Character/Pairing: Prowl/Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Jazz (Hound, Wheeljack, Skywarp, Rumble)
Prompt: Caring
Rating: T
Summary: Perhaps Sunstreaker does care about Prowl… But this is just a theory.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.
Beta: ultharkitty
Note: Written for the 28 Sunstreaker meme.
About a day, which doesn’t matter
Sunstreaker was in a foul mood. He sat alone in the rec room, waiting for Hound, his patrol partner for the day. He took a small sip from his energon cube, and checked the weather forecast again. For now it wasn’t raining, but the human meteorological office had broadcast a storm warning, including heavy rain and wind.
“Wonderful!” he muttered, voice hushed, but Bluestreak heard him anyway and came to sit nearby.
“What’s wonderful?” the gunner asked with a smile, and Sunstreaker wondered if the Datsun was always in a good mood.
“The weather…” Sunstreaker answered sarcastically, and took another sip.
“Oh, why? What is with the weather? I mean, I was out until now and everything’s alright. A bit dark, though, but it’s winter, it seems to be normal on this planet. Wheeljack told me, the changing sunset and sunrise times are caused by a tilt of the earth’s axis, or something. I think it’s really funny to think this planet is wonky and…”
“Bluestreak…” Sunstreaker made a half-hearted attempt to stop the flow of words leaving Bluestreaker's vocaliser. He thought about mentioning Praxus and its Crystal Garden to stop the chatter, but Sideswipe was certain to find out, and he had no interest in dealing with his brother’s anger.
“..and did you know, on the other hemisphere it's summer now. This is so weird. I…”
“Bluestreak, please…” Sunstreaker nearly begged. It was much too early for his CPU to process all these words.
“Uhm, Sunn…” Bluestreak bit his lip and began anew, knowing the yellow twin hated to be addressed by his nickname. “Sunstreaker, is everything alright?”
“If you keep your mouth shut, yeah, it will be! How can you be even so awake after night patrol?” Sunstreaker raised a hand fast. “No, Wait, I don’t want to know!”
Bluestreak frowned. “Really funny… But hey…”
Sunstreaker growled quietly, but the Datsun ignored it.
“…look what I got yesterday!” Happily, he took a datapad out of his subspace and handed it to Sunstreaker. “I did six extra shifts, and gave a few lessons in shooting to get it. Cool, huh?”
Sunstreaker sighed, and skimmed over the pad; suddenly, his disinterest changed to genuine surprise.
“An official permission to densify high grade? From Prime?!”
Bluestreak nodded, visibly proud. “Yep. You know, I didn’t dare to ask Prowl. He can be so uptight, and high grade always is such a tender subject. But Prime was really nice, he just said I should do these shifts and lessons and maybe give him one or two cubes of it. Okay, honestly, the shooting lessons with Cliffjumper were a bit stressful, but perhaps he…”
“Do you even know how to make high grade?” Sunstreaker bluntly interrupted the monologue. He was sure that he wouldn’t test any of the energon.
“I don’t, but the permission isn’t for me. I wanna give it to Sides.”
“Well… fine. Whatever… I mean, why?” He couldn’t hide his confusion.
“Uhm… Valentine’s Day. It’s in three days, and I thought it’s a nice present, so…”
“Valentine’s Day?”
Tilting his head, Bluestreak answered slowly. “You don’t know? This human holiday every year on February 14th?”
“I didn’t know.” Sunstreaker replied indifferently. “Is it about this weird holy human again? What was so special of this guy? Did he catch a fish on this day a few thousand years ago? Or did he die or fly over a mountain or what?”
“I don’t really know, but the day where one of their holy guys died is called Easter. They celebrate it with rabbits, though the logic behind that is totally lost on me…”
“Why do they celebrate his death with rabbits? Are they happy he’s dead? Why do they even celebrate his birth?!” Sunstreaker confusion and tiredness turned to annoyance. He had serious problems to understand the humans. “Nah… Who cares!” He spat, and glanced towards the rec room door. Hound still hadn’t shown up.
A bit stunned by Sunstreaker’s outburst, Bluestreak shook his head. “Actually, it’s a day to celebrate love… or something. I have no idea what a Valentine is, though. But the humans give their family and loved ones presents and eat cake and chocolate or whatever it's called, and there’re parades at some cities and… so on. You know, I think it’s a kinda nice holiday and reason to have fun. Jazz and Blaster organised a party for the evening in the rec room. What do you plan to give Prowl?”
The last part caught Sunstreaker's attention. “Prowl?”
“Yeah, I mean, I know you didn't know about it before, but I might be able to help you with a present, if you want to. I don’t really know what he lik…”
“Why should I give anything to Prowl?”
“Are… aren’t you... I thought you’re with him.”
Sunstreaker raised an optical ridge. “What made you think that?”
“You two interface, don’t you?” Suddenly, Bluestreak appeared to be uncertain.
“We do, now and then. So what? That’s not a reason to give him anything.”
“You’re not… lovers?” The last word sounded cautiously as not sure which reaction it would cause.
“Lovers?” Sunstreaker laughed affectedly. “I wouldn’t call us that. We interface, we have fun, he doesn’t pull rank on me, I don’t play hard to get - for him - but it doesn’t imply it would mean anything. It’s not as if we care about each other, so why should I give him anything because of some stupid human holiday?”
Bluestreak nodded slowly. “Sure… Uhm, if you say so…”
The yellow twin gave him a wary glance. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… What if he gives you something? And then you have nothing, don’t you think he’ll be disappointed?”
“This is Prowl, we’re talking about. I hardly think he even knows how to spell ‘present’.”
“Yeah, certainly you don’t …” Bluestreak muttered, and changed the topic. “Did you know that older human cultures had more deities than just one? The Romans for example had a god for nearly everything like the sea, the hunt or the sky! And they had a little angel like being with little wings and a bow that inspires love. It was called Cupid and if he had chosen a couple, he shot an arrow at both people’s hearts and…”
“Don’t humans die if they get shot at the heart?” Hound burst in, smiling, making the Datsun and Sunstreaker flinch.
Grumbling, Sunstreaker cursed inwardly; he can't have been awake if he hadn't noticed the Jeep approaching.
Bluestreak murmured. “Well, yeah, but it was an arrow of love so…”
“Seems a bit unproductive to me…” Hound commented, amused, but couldn’t say anything more as the yellow twin got up.
“Can we go already?”
“Sure thing.” Hound waved at Bluestreak, who did the same, and followed Sunstreaker out of the room.
“Sorry that I’m late. I had an appointment with Prowl about some Decepticon activity we might come across. I’ll inform you on the road.”
“Whatever…” Was the short reply. Sunstreaker hid a devious grin; he wouldn’t say no to a few Decepticons on his patrol. He was looking forward to give them a few arrows of his love.
---
On Valentines Day, everyone on the Ark was busy.
The rec room’s redecoration began in the late morning, and there were only a few other mechs who, like Sunstreaker, weren’t fond of the human holiday celebration. These mechs covered the shifts for those who were occupied with the preparations.
Prowl nearly stumbled over a stack of weird-looking decorative materials when he entered the rec room to search for the chief engineer. He greeted Sunstreaker with a faint nod, as he passed the table where the Lamborghini sat trying to ignore the events around him.
“Wheeljack, I need a moment.” Prowl stated in a calm, stern tone. The Lancia looked up from the string of lights he was trying to untangle.
“What’s it, Prowl? Finally got the Valentine’s spirit and want to help us?” The vocal indicators flickered cheerfully.
“Actually, no. I'm having problems reading your writing.” He handed Wheeljack a datapad. “And even though I’m not ignorant about science, I don’t understand the complete capability of your space bridge jammer.”
Wheeljack frowned, as though having problems deciphering his own writing, before he answered: “Oh, yeah, right. You know Skywarp’s ability based on the space bridge, or vice versa, kinda, but it’s a totally different dematter frequency of…”
“Please, Wheeljack, don’t do a Perceptor on me. What does it mean, and please don’t use any words like ‘matter frequency’ or ‘stabilising wavelength’.”
“Right, sorry ‘bout that. It just means we can jam the bridge, but his ability’s still active. I can try to build another jammer, though. But I’d need some time, and maybe a piece of his armour. His plating must have changed over all the millennia using his ability to dematerialise and materialise again and again. I bet there’s an uncharacteristic…” he stopped when he noticed Prowls expression. “Well, yeah, I could build a universal warp-jammer, if it’s that what you want to know.”
“Thank you. Jamming their bridges is enough for now. Skywarp’s ability certainly makes him a menace, but it can’t be helped. And we've fought him long enough to know how to handle it.”
“Yeah, but Ratchet would be grateful. It’d mean less damage to the ‘bots.”
Prowl let out a sigh. “Believe me; I would be grateful, too.” With this, he gave Wheeljack a nod and left the room.
---
The sun set and the temperature slowly dropped, causing the water to freeze.
Sunstreaker cursed the icy roads, the changing seasons, and that conditions like this even existed on this planet. He had already lost his grip more than once, and drove slower than he wanted or was used to. Fortunately, he was alone on late patrol, and no one was there to witness his problems staying on the road.
It began snowing, and the wind blew the frozen precipitate across his windshield, blurring Sunstreaker's view. He couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him, so he pushed his scanners to their maximum. This was the moment the Lamborghini began to think that he should have pretended to be interested in the holiday to avoid this shift and, furthermore, the weather.
He didn’t even wanted to know what all these things the humans used to give the road more grip, did to his paintjob. He already felt a prickling, where the muddy salt-snow-sand mix splashed against his undercarriage.
He was so preoccupied whining about his paintjob, that he nearly missed the dark figure, darting through the sky, only noticing it when it dropped to the ground.
Instinctively shielding his energy signature, Sunstreaker checked the street’s conditions and sped forward, nearly losing his grip as he did so.
---
Sunstreaker snuck, nearly soundless in the snow, to the place just off the road where he expected the crashed Decepticon to be. He didn’t know who exactly it was, but they didn’t block their signature, seemingly sure no Autobot would be on the road, so he knew at least their number.
A sudden flurry made it hard to identify which ‘cons sat close to the frozen lake, but Sunstreaker guessed it was a seeker and one of Soundwave’s cassettes, because of the seize difference. He hid behind a large boulder and listened in amusement to their argument.
“…and ya call yourself part of the elite trine?”
“Shut up, pipsqueak. It’s not my fault my rudders are iced up! Do you have any idea how it feels to have a frozen back?!”
Sunstreaker smirked and remembered the complaints of one of the Aerialbots when he nearly crashed because of the wind and snow, which had built a coat of ice over parts of his wings and tail.
“Oh, sure, Skywarp. Now it’s the weather…” The smaller con muttered, his voice barely audible to Sunstreaker. The Autobot frowned and remembered fractions of the conversation from Prowl and Wheeljack, which he had overheard earlier.
“Mute it and help me get off this mess! Or do you wanna walk back to base?”
“I can fly, too, ya know!”
“Of course, together with the device…” The seeker stopped mid-sentence, and his gaze wandered to Sunstreaker’s hideout. “Did you see that?”
“What d’ya mean?”
Both Decepticons spoke too low, and Sunstreaker couldn’t understand them, but he already had a plan. A contented grin flashed over his face when he saw the smaller one walking towards him.
Sunstreaker recognized him as Rumble. The ‘con came out behind the boulder, his optics visibly widening.
A mocking smile on his mouth plates, Sunstreaker spoke sweetly: “Hey buddy. Nice weather, ain’t it?”
---
He didn’t hobble, he just walked… slower.
It was the first thing that Prowl noticed about Sunstreaker when the mech entered the rec room; besides the copious amount of energon which covered the frontliner’s yellow armour.
The second difference was a dark piece of… something held by the twin, which Prowl couldn’t yet identify.
The music still echoed from the large speakers, but the activity in the room calmed, and there was hardly any mech who didn’t watch the frontliner walking towards Prowl, leaving a trail of energon across the floor.
The reactions ranged from annoyance to confusion, and in Ratchet’s case, confused annoyance.
The medic mumbled something unintelligible, drowned out by the music, before he looked, concerned, at First Aid, who was noticeably shocked by the unexpected sight.
Sunstreaker seemingly ignored the reactions and, to everyone's surprise, failed to pounce on Cliffjumper, who had made the kind of comment which usually incited the frontliner to jump on him.
When Sunstreaker came to a halt in front of Prowl, the interest of most mechs faded, and the Autobots went back to whatever they'd been doing before the interruption, although most kept an audio on the unusual pair.
“I assume that's not your energon?” Prowl said without greeting, surveying Sunstreaker and what he held.
“Most of it isn’t. Got a few hits, but it’s nothing serious.” He offered a shrug and a confident grin.
“You should go to medbay.” Trying to make sense of the situation, he glanced around, searching for Ratchet.
“Don’t need to. Just wanted to make my report before I go to my quarters.”
“Your report? Here? That’s…”
Sunstreaker interrupted the tactician boldly. “I’m tired and I’m not in the mood for your paperwork. So you get the short form: I was on patrol, saw Skywarp and a Cassetticon trying to deliver whatever device to big Megs. I attacked them, because they seemed… a bit stiff.” He chuckled softly at his own joke. “I don’t know what’s with Rumble, but I destroyed their weird device and battered the seeker.”
Still confused, Prowl nodded. “That’s… good.”
“I tried to rip out a wing, but when I touched them, the ‘con nearly went berserk, which was actually pretty droll. So I didn’t get a wing, but an arm.” Sunstreaker handed the piece of Skywarp’s armour to Prowl, who took it, stunned. “It’s quite fresh.”
“I can... see that.” The tactician said, and his optics tracked a drop of energon falling to the ground.
“Well, at least Skywarp won’t make any problems for a while. I also managed to disable his warping device.”
He nodded again, searching for words, but didn’t know what to say, so he just muttered: “Good work…”
“So, now excuse me, I’m tired and I have some energon lines and a paintjob to take care of.” Sunstreaker nodded goodbye and turned around, leaving behind a perplexed Prowl still holding the disembodied arm.
He sighed, exhausted. He was sure a bad processor ache was on its way when he saw Ratchet rush up to Sunstreaker, catching him just before he had the chance to leave. A few angry words were exchanged, before the medic grabbed the frontliner’s arm and pulled him out of the room.
It was one of these moments, in which Prowl wasn’t sure why exactly he was second in command of this mess.
“That’s what I call a personal present.”
Jazz’s words dragged Prowl back to reality, and he flinched. As usual, Jazz’s logic was lost on the tactician, and he looked at him in bewilderment.
“What do you mean exactly?”
“Well, a ripped off arm, apparently from a seeker, covered in energon, which is still dripping, I think that reflects Sunstreaker’s personality quite well.”
“I don't think this is in any way funny.” Prowl muttered.
“I never intended to make a joke.” Jazz's smile was far too cheerful; and when Prowl decided against a sharp comment in response, the saboteur continued. “And? Any idea what you‘ll give him?”
“Give what to whom?” This evening seemed to manufacture bafflement.
“Sunstreaker? He gave you a present. Don’t tell me you don’t want to give him anything in return.”
“That’s not a present. It’s a Decepticon’s arm!”
“What do you expect from Sunstreaker? A floral bouquet? So, it’s from Skywarp, isn’t it?”
Prowl’s logic circuits burned and worked overtime, though again he didn’t understand what Jazz meant. “Yes, and what should it tell me?”
“’Jack told me that he told you he’d need a piece of his armour to build another jammer, or something.”
“I still don’t understand. It’s more a present for Wheeljack than for me.”
“Primus! When ‘Jack told you that, ‘Streaker was in the room, too. Did you - maybe - say anything that makes ‘Streaker thinking you’d… approve of a piece of his armour and a few Skywarp-free cycles” Jazz's tone had become resolute, and it occurred to Prowl that even the saboteur's bright manner had its limits.
“That could be. Most likely he did it for the Autobot cause.” Prowl said, trying to find his own explanation.
“Sunstreaker doing something for the Autobot cause of his own account? Yeah, sure, whatever you say… Do you really think he threw himself at two Decepticons and the high possibility getting his paintjob scratched for the Autobot cause?” Jazz’s softly shook his head, and frowned behind his visor.
Tired, Prowl stared back at the dripping limb, and a few thoughts rushed over his processor.
“I should probably… take this to my office…” He spoke, glancing at Jazz, who smiled again.
“Yeah, you probably should.”
After a small gesture to the saboteur, he left.
He didn’t notice the small look exchanged between Jazz and Bluestreak; the two grinned, knowing and content.
Thank you for reading. :)