Concerning Several Related Incidents
Title: Concerning Several Related Incidents
Verse: G1
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Skyfire, Wheeljack, Mirage, Inferno
Word Count: 1,628
Warnings: None
Summary: A string of unrelated incidents has Skyfire rather confused.
Series: Concerning Skyfire's Unfortunate Courtship
Concerning Unneeded Inspections (Part 1), Concerning Unneeded Surveillance (Part 2), Concerning Much Needed Advice (Part 3), Concerning Several Related Incidents (Part 4), Concerning Several Related Incidents (Part 4-Side Fic) By Odd_Stick. , Concerning A Human Tradition (Part 5), Concerning A Deal (Part 6), Concerning A First Date (Part 7), Concerning A Good-Natured Betrayal (Part 8), Concerning An Unexpected Conversation (Part 9)
Notes: I blame my own evil plot bunny this time. Today, I started brainstorming and this sucker freaking latched onto my brain HARD. So I wrote it. 8D
The first incident occurred several days after his last painful trip to the med bay. At first, he was utterly clueless, but then, he had perfect reason to be. There was no particular hint that may have given an explanation, but there was no need for one.
The incident was a simple, everyday thing that didn’t so much as phase him. Only later, when he was able to put the other pieces together did he realized this was a part of it.
“Well that’s odd.” Skyfire said, glancing around.
“What is?” Wheeljack asked, popping up from behind what looked to be a modified race car engine. Primus knows what he was doing to it.
“I appear to be missing a rather important electrical connector.” Skyfire noted, opening a drawer to check for the piece. “It was right next to me and now it’s gone. I can’t repair this panel until I find it.”
Wheeljack glanced around the counter briefly and shrugged. “Well it’s around. It’s not like it can just get up and walk away.” He noted, grinning behind his mask.
“Unless it was previously part of one of your experiments.” The flier replied. “Then it might very well sprout legs.”
Wheeljack gave a snorting laugh and flapped a hand at him before he disappeared back behind the large motor.
Skyfire turned away from his friend and searched around his cluttered workspace. After several minutes of pawing through the area, scattering nuts and bolts across the floor, he slumped against the edge of the table with a sigh. Nothing. The blasted thing may as well have sprouted legs and danced away.
About that time, Wheeljack’s normally rhythmic tinkering sounds halted and the engineer’s optics peeked over the engine, looking a tad confused.
“Oh, I see it.” He said suddenly worming around his own space toward Skyfire’s.
“Where?” the flier asked, glancing toward where the engineer was looking.
“Here.” Wheeljack replied stooping down to the floor to snag the connection out from under the table.
“How did you find that?” Skyfire asked, taking the connector with a surprised look.
The other mech looked almost as confused as he did, replying with a shrug before he turned and went back to his work station.
Just as well, Skyfire mentally dismissed the event and turned back to his own work.
The second incident was a bit out of the ordinary. This time it took place on the day following the first incident and aside from several other reasons, it caught his attention due to his own paranoia.
Using the public wash racks always was unusual for Skyfire. Prior to the war, he’d had his own private wash room at the Science Academy. Unlike the rest of the soldiers, he had yet to grow accustomed to this new invasion of privacy.
Due to a low-altitude patrol flight that morning, the flier’s joints felt gritty with sand. Hence why he grudgingly headed into the wash racks during one of its busiest times of day.
As he maneuvered around damp bots, he gave a few nods of greeting, trying not to bump into anyone. It took him several minutes to get to the back where the larger shower stalls were. He was thankful to note that despite the crowded conditions, his normal stall was free. He favored it over the others because of was situated between a wall and a smaller stall, thus lowering the chances that another large mech could peer at him from the other stall. The idea just kind of bothered him.
Skyfire settled himself under the shower head before quickly flicking the flow of cleanser on. He leaned his head under the liquid and allowed himself a moment to enjoy the feeling of it washing through his dirty parts before he reached for his cleaning rag. Then he realized he didn’t have it.
“Wonderful.” He sighed, leaning into the stall’s wall. He’d forgotten his cleaning rag back in his quarters and he was already soaked with cleanser. Now he’d have to either walk back to his room dripping wet or he’d have to wait until he was dry enough to walk back to his room with his dignity intact.
Trying to decide between the two choices, Skyfire noticed a voice coming from the smaller stall next to him. It sounded like Mirage… But why was he muttering angrily to himself?
He didn’t get any time to consider the reason because something wet flopped onto his shoulder. His first instinct was to give a yelp of surprise and bump into the other wall in an attempt to run from his attacker.
Skyfire then realized his attacker was a wet rag. He tried to salvage the motion by plucking it off of his shoulder plating in the most dignified manner possible.
“Um… Thank you.” He said toward the other stall.
“Just toss it back over when you’re done.” Mirage replied, although he didn’t seem too happy about the idea that his rag was now with the flier.
“Right… I’ll be quick.” Skyfire assured him.
He received an annoyed grunt in response.
It was later that same night when the third incident occurred. This time, it was so obviously out of place that Skyfire knew something was going on. It was lucky for him that he got an explanation in the end.
Skyfire was not one of the mechs on the Ark known to be a workaholic. Unlike Prowl and several others, he did not work himself all day, forget to refuel, and then go into stasis lock. Even so, the flier did occasionally get wrapped up enough in his work that he forgot to take an energon break.
After having fixed the piece of equipment he’d been tasked with repairing yesterday, Skyfire had gratefully returned to the researching of a pet project of his. It was a series of experiments involving several of the human race’s most deadly diseases. They seemed to be having trouble curing them and he found their study fascinating. Thus, he had started his experiments in a quest to find the cure.
Usually, he and Perceptor worked on the project together, as the other scientist’s alt mode was usually a necessity for observation of cells. Today though, the other scientist was nursing a mental wound back in his quarters. The poor mech had been on the receiving end of one of the Twin Terror’s pranks.
His other lab partner, Wheeljack, was also busy with other work. He was unfortunate enough to be placed on night patrol and would not be back until sunrise. Thus, the flier was left to work alone in the lab.
Bent over a data pad, Skyfire had been making chemical calculations for hours. Once more he was attempting to work out a correct mix of the right materials needed for possible vaccinations that he could later test on cells in a Petri dish. He’d hardly noticed the amount of time that had gone by, consumed in his work as he was.
Nearing 11 PM, the door to the lab slid open with a hiss. Strange since no one was due to join him in the room until the next morning at the very least.
Skyfire looked up from his data pad and cast a surprised look toward the door. Okay. That was strange.
“Inferno.” Skyfire greeted with a nod, giving the mech a confused look.
The red mech was wearing a stupid-happy grin on his face as he strolled across the room toward him. “You’re up late.” The mech noted a tad too cheerfully.
For one, Skyfire was not used to seeing any mech wearing that kind of grin, let alone a mech like Inferno. That and the mech was coming toward him with that grin. It was making his circuits crawl.
“Is there something I can help you with?” The flier asked cautiously.
“Nope, I’m here to help you.” Inferno responded, hoisting up a rather large cube of energon as he stepped up to the other.
Skyfire shuttered his optics in surprise, staring at the cube. Now that he thought about it, his fuel levels were rather low… “Um… Thank you.” He replied, taking it. “I lost track of the time.”
Inferno nodded and continued grinning at him, though it seemed a tad less creepy now. It seemed more like he knew something Skyfire didn’t.
“How did you know?” Skyfire asked after a moment, taking a large swallow of the cube’s contents.
“Oh, well I didn’t know.” Inferno replied. Skyfire tried not to dwell on the fact that he looked a bit mischievous.
“But… You brought me energon.”
Inferno waved a hand at him and turned back toward the door he’d entered through. It seemed he believed the conversation was over, because in the next moment he turned and strolled to the door.
“Inferno!” Skyfire yelped, staring after the bot as he tried to vacate the room
The fire rig merely keyed open the door before he turned to look back at the flier with a grin. “He’s using his powers for good now.” he said. Then he turned and fled out the door.
It took only a moment of flat out confusion before everything suddenly fell into place. That was followed by another moment of silently cursing the responsible mech and his blasted cameras. This was followed by a large, angry gulp of his energon, which then triggered another thought process.
Okay, so other than the spying, it wasn’t that bad. Red Alert’s snooping had certainly shown its good side, but that still didn’t make the lack of privacy any better.
Skyfire cast a glance at a nearby security camera. It gave off several clicks as it zoomed out and suddenly focused elsewhere in the room. “This can’t end well for me…”
Verse: G1
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Skyfire, Wheeljack, Mirage, Inferno
Word Count: 1,628
Warnings: None
Summary: A string of unrelated incidents has Skyfire rather confused.
Series: Concerning Skyfire's Unfortunate Courtship
Concerning Unneeded Inspections (Part 1), Concerning Unneeded Surveillance (Part 2), Concerning Much Needed Advice (Part 3), Concerning Several Related Incidents (Part 4), Concerning Several Related Incidents (Part 4-Side Fic) By Odd_Stick. , Concerning A Human Tradition (Part 5), Concerning A Deal (Part 6), Concerning A First Date (Part 7), Concerning A Good-Natured Betrayal (Part 8), Concerning An Unexpected Conversation (Part 9)
Notes: I blame my own evil plot bunny this time. Today, I started brainstorming and this sucker freaking latched onto my brain HARD. So I wrote it. 8D
The first incident occurred several days after his last painful trip to the med bay. At first, he was utterly clueless, but then, he had perfect reason to be. There was no particular hint that may have given an explanation, but there was no need for one.
The incident was a simple, everyday thing that didn’t so much as phase him. Only later, when he was able to put the other pieces together did he realized this was a part of it.
“Well that’s odd.” Skyfire said, glancing around.
“What is?” Wheeljack asked, popping up from behind what looked to be a modified race car engine. Primus knows what he was doing to it.
“I appear to be missing a rather important electrical connector.” Skyfire noted, opening a drawer to check for the piece. “It was right next to me and now it’s gone. I can’t repair this panel until I find it.”
Wheeljack glanced around the counter briefly and shrugged. “Well it’s around. It’s not like it can just get up and walk away.” He noted, grinning behind his mask.
“Unless it was previously part of one of your experiments.” The flier replied. “Then it might very well sprout legs.”
Wheeljack gave a snorting laugh and flapped a hand at him before he disappeared back behind the large motor.
Skyfire turned away from his friend and searched around his cluttered workspace. After several minutes of pawing through the area, scattering nuts and bolts across the floor, he slumped against the edge of the table with a sigh. Nothing. The blasted thing may as well have sprouted legs and danced away.
About that time, Wheeljack’s normally rhythmic tinkering sounds halted and the engineer’s optics peeked over the engine, looking a tad confused.
“Oh, I see it.” He said suddenly worming around his own space toward Skyfire’s.
“Where?” the flier asked, glancing toward where the engineer was looking.
“Here.” Wheeljack replied stooping down to the floor to snag the connection out from under the table.
“How did you find that?” Skyfire asked, taking the connector with a surprised look.
The other mech looked almost as confused as he did, replying with a shrug before he turned and went back to his work station.
Just as well, Skyfire mentally dismissed the event and turned back to his own work.
The second incident was a bit out of the ordinary. This time it took place on the day following the first incident and aside from several other reasons, it caught his attention due to his own paranoia.
Using the public wash racks always was unusual for Skyfire. Prior to the war, he’d had his own private wash room at the Science Academy. Unlike the rest of the soldiers, he had yet to grow accustomed to this new invasion of privacy.
Due to a low-altitude patrol flight that morning, the flier’s joints felt gritty with sand. Hence why he grudgingly headed into the wash racks during one of its busiest times of day.
As he maneuvered around damp bots, he gave a few nods of greeting, trying not to bump into anyone. It took him several minutes to get to the back where the larger shower stalls were. He was thankful to note that despite the crowded conditions, his normal stall was free. He favored it over the others because of was situated between a wall and a smaller stall, thus lowering the chances that another large mech could peer at him from the other stall. The idea just kind of bothered him.
Skyfire settled himself under the shower head before quickly flicking the flow of cleanser on. He leaned his head under the liquid and allowed himself a moment to enjoy the feeling of it washing through his dirty parts before he reached for his cleaning rag. Then he realized he didn’t have it.
“Wonderful.” He sighed, leaning into the stall’s wall. He’d forgotten his cleaning rag back in his quarters and he was already soaked with cleanser. Now he’d have to either walk back to his room dripping wet or he’d have to wait until he was dry enough to walk back to his room with his dignity intact.
Trying to decide between the two choices, Skyfire noticed a voice coming from the smaller stall next to him. It sounded like Mirage… But why was he muttering angrily to himself?
He didn’t get any time to consider the reason because something wet flopped onto his shoulder. His first instinct was to give a yelp of surprise and bump into the other wall in an attempt to run from his attacker.
Skyfire then realized his attacker was a wet rag. He tried to salvage the motion by plucking it off of his shoulder plating in the most dignified manner possible.
“Um… Thank you.” He said toward the other stall.
“Just toss it back over when you’re done.” Mirage replied, although he didn’t seem too happy about the idea that his rag was now with the flier.
“Right… I’ll be quick.” Skyfire assured him.
He received an annoyed grunt in response.
It was later that same night when the third incident occurred. This time, it was so obviously out of place that Skyfire knew something was going on. It was lucky for him that he got an explanation in the end.
Skyfire was not one of the mechs on the Ark known to be a workaholic. Unlike Prowl and several others, he did not work himself all day, forget to refuel, and then go into stasis lock. Even so, the flier did occasionally get wrapped up enough in his work that he forgot to take an energon break.
After having fixed the piece of equipment he’d been tasked with repairing yesterday, Skyfire had gratefully returned to the researching of a pet project of his. It was a series of experiments involving several of the human race’s most deadly diseases. They seemed to be having trouble curing them and he found their study fascinating. Thus, he had started his experiments in a quest to find the cure.
Usually, he and Perceptor worked on the project together, as the other scientist’s alt mode was usually a necessity for observation of cells. Today though, the other scientist was nursing a mental wound back in his quarters. The poor mech had been on the receiving end of one of the Twin Terror’s pranks.
His other lab partner, Wheeljack, was also busy with other work. He was unfortunate enough to be placed on night patrol and would not be back until sunrise. Thus, the flier was left to work alone in the lab.
Bent over a data pad, Skyfire had been making chemical calculations for hours. Once more he was attempting to work out a correct mix of the right materials needed for possible vaccinations that he could later test on cells in a Petri dish. He’d hardly noticed the amount of time that had gone by, consumed in his work as he was.
Nearing 11 PM, the door to the lab slid open with a hiss. Strange since no one was due to join him in the room until the next morning at the very least.
Skyfire looked up from his data pad and cast a surprised look toward the door. Okay. That was strange.
“Inferno.” Skyfire greeted with a nod, giving the mech a confused look.
The red mech was wearing a stupid-happy grin on his face as he strolled across the room toward him. “You’re up late.” The mech noted a tad too cheerfully.
For one, Skyfire was not used to seeing any mech wearing that kind of grin, let alone a mech like Inferno. That and the mech was coming toward him with that grin. It was making his circuits crawl.
“Is there something I can help you with?” The flier asked cautiously.
“Nope, I’m here to help you.” Inferno responded, hoisting up a rather large cube of energon as he stepped up to the other.
Skyfire shuttered his optics in surprise, staring at the cube. Now that he thought about it, his fuel levels were rather low… “Um… Thank you.” He replied, taking it. “I lost track of the time.”
Inferno nodded and continued grinning at him, though it seemed a tad less creepy now. It seemed more like he knew something Skyfire didn’t.
“How did you know?” Skyfire asked after a moment, taking a large swallow of the cube’s contents.
“Oh, well I didn’t know.” Inferno replied. Skyfire tried not to dwell on the fact that he looked a bit mischievous.
“But… You brought me energon.”
Inferno waved a hand at him and turned back toward the door he’d entered through. It seemed he believed the conversation was over, because in the next moment he turned and strolled to the door.
“Inferno!” Skyfire yelped, staring after the bot as he tried to vacate the room
The fire rig merely keyed open the door before he turned to look back at the flier with a grin. “He’s using his powers for good now.” he said. Then he turned and fled out the door.
It took only a moment of flat out confusion before everything suddenly fell into place. That was followed by another moment of silently cursing the responsible mech and his blasted cameras. This was followed by a large, angry gulp of his energon, which then triggered another thought process.
Okay, so other than the spying, it wasn’t that bad. Red Alert’s snooping had certainly shown its good side, but that still didn’t make the lack of privacy any better.
Skyfire cast a glance at a nearby security camera. It gave off several clicks as it zoomed out and suddenly focused elsewhere in the room. “This can’t end well for me…”