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Fly, shoot, retreat. Thundercracker couldn't feel more useless. It was basically like this every day, every battle, every time. The Seekers served as the Decepticons' informants, well, at least when Laserbreak wasn't willing to do it for them. The drone was just lazy and Soundwave never did anything about it, just letting his cassettes do whatever they wanted on their base.
And it would be more boring if it weren't for Starscream always being in a bad mood. He would scream, and blame anything wrong with the missions on one of them. Skywarp and the RainMakers didn't seem to care much, but Thundercraker was tired.
Back on Cybertron, being a Seeker was a laughing stock. They were seen as a hive mind because they were so identical, a constant joke was that other Cybertronians confused them all the time, several times he was called "blue Starscream".
It was what humans would call "hell”. Created only to be a copy of each other, Thunder always seemed to be forgotten by the rest. Among all the Seekers, he hated working as a Decepticon the most. No one was a friend, here it was obey or die, no different from how Seekers were treated before the war, being made to be soldiers and such.
Megatron didn't respect them, always antagonizing Starscream even when he had a good idea. And when he wasn't verbally attacking him, he was beating him until he begged for mercy.
He hated it. More than anything he hated not being able to do anything.
And even if he could, Starscream would take his frustrations out on them. It was an endless circle and Thundercraker, as much as he didn't want this for his leader, was tired.
Sometimes in the middle of battles, he would stop just to observe the unity between the Autobots. Never leaving each other behind, mourning each other's downfall, never attacking each other without reason.
They felt more welcome. Something he envied. He couldn't stand seeing them being so close when he couldn't understand why. Why weren't the Decepticons like that? Why didn't he have those same connections with his teammates? Why did Starscream always target him? Why couldn't he be satisfied?
Why did killing always make his spark hurt?
That was exactly the reason why most of his missions always went wrong, he refused to kill when he had the chance. After returning to base Starscream always screamed in his audials. Calling him incompetent, weak, and an excuse for Seekers.
Thundercracker knew he was just repeating what Megatron always called him. This was most obvious when he once asked him if he was stupid. Thundercracker never fought back. He just let his leader talk him down for whatever reason, and only retreated when the yelling died down.
Skywarp was the only one who showed him any sort of understanding, but even then he didn't and tended to Thundercraker's frustrations, just telling him to get over it. He hated all of this.
He went from a miserable life on Cybertron, to an even more miserable life but now with the possibility of dying in battle, and no one would miss him. Maybe Skywarp, but even then, Thundercraker felt out of place.
He felt as if he could not find peace within himself. The Decepticons didn't treat him like the Autobots treated each other. And that made him angry. That was the only reason he kept fighting, so he could make them stop smiling all the time, make them feel miserable like him.
Although, he never killed them, he just hurt them enough to see the suffering and pain on their faces. It was better than watching them being buddy-buddy with each other all the time. This didn't give him satisfaction, but it gave him a reason to keep fighting.
Pathetic? Maybe. Immature? Very. But he didn't care, he stopped caring years ago. Everything was now just nothing to him. Just waiting for the moment when he would be the next to fall in battle.
And for a moment, he thought it was now.
Opening his optics, his vision wasblurred. He rebooted his sensors, starting to feel immense pain in his wings and leg. Straining to move his head, more pain shot through his frame, looking ahead with his vision clearing, he could see pieces of rock burying his leg, energon dripping from the tears.
He started to intake in a panic, starting to feel more pain in his frame. His left arm was injured with large tear on forearm, sparks and energon spraying all over the rocky ground. Looking back in pain, his left wing had a huge tear, part of it almost falling off.
He ran a servo across his face, energon dripping down his helm. He felt scratches and a dent on his faceplate. In every sense, he was in a horrible state.
He continued to look around, he was at the end of a ravine, not too deep, and not too tight, if he had his leg free he could just fly or walk away. Looking up he could see that it was getting dark, not a sign of life. He tried to push himself up but only a grunt of pain came, his leg completely screwed up under the rocks, which moved with the movement, trapping his leg even more.
He continues to look around him, unable to see anyone else, panic starting to take in his intake. "A-anyone there!?" He calls out, "Starscream?? Skywarp?? Anyone??" He calls out once more, bringing a servo close to his face. His voice echoed across the ravine.
Nothing.
“Help!!" He screamed, gathering the rest of the strength he had to try to call for help, "please I need help!!" He would scream once more, his voice growing in panic. "Help!!!" His voice starts to crack, realization hitting him.
“They... abandoned me..?" He whispers, covering his mouth with a servo. “Someone!! Anyone!! Please!!" He starts screaming louder, almost breaking down into sobs, " I don't want to die... " He says feeling his body shake before falling back onto the hard ground.
He always knew he wasn't important enough to be missed. But still, it hurt to know that he was simply left to die. His optics were fading, all he could see was the sky darkening and stars beginning to appear, illuminating the darkness along with the moon.
Thundercracker felt liquid running down his faceplate. His servant passes the digits through the liquid, energon? No, tears. His loneliness finally hit.
He had always felt alone, and now he was alone. He felt his optics starting to shut down. He could hear something, but his strength was already running out, all he could do was just go into stasis.
And just wait for his spark to just die out...
“ Here! ”
A muffled voice made him slightly reactivate his optics. Straining to raise his helm he could hear heavy footsteps, two of them. Then following on with…
“ I swear I heard someone screaming for help! ”
Help? Was someone looking for him?? He needed to do something, get their attention! He forced his head up, and even though his voice felt weak and sore, he had to call out to them. Just one more time.
“ HELP!!! ”
And just like that, his voice finally broke from the pressure. He felt his vocalizer crack, staticy, making him cough. His helm falls again in pain, his energy draining as he forces more intakes, trying to stay activated.
His vision was blurring again, his hearing was failing and the pain throughout his body was getting worse. More and more energon was draining from him, making him feel weaker by the second. Was this really the end? He didn't even remember what put him down! He was in too much pain to care at the moment.
“ Here! It was coming from here! ”
The muffled times were closer, but at this point, he couldn't see anything anymore, everything was blurring and then…
Everything went dark.
…………
………
…..
…
..
.
[Rebooting]
Several warnings started popping up on his processor. He was rebooting. Just a few more seconds and then, his optics began to open.
“He's reactivating!" Said a jovial voice, it was familiar, but he couldn't think of where it was from. After a few more seconds, he could finally form images, colors, and he could see clearly little by little.
“Keep your distance! We don't know what he can do." Another voice, more grumpy than the one who just spoke. He blinked a few times to try to get a better look at what was happening.
And as soon as he looked in front of him, he came face to face with something that left him completely alarmed. A yellow bot with horns, blue optics, and worst of all, an Autobot insignia on its chassis!
If Thundercracker could, he would have either pushed him away from him with a servo or dragged himself away from him. But, he couldn't feel anything, not even one of his arms, let alone the rest of his body. He begins to panic when he realizes he can't feel anything. The yellow bot raises his servos trying to calm him down.
“Hey hey! Calm down mach, we won't hurt you!” He says trying to calm him down, but Thundercraker didn't care, he was very panicked, specifically because he didn't know what they were doing to him.
“Bee, I told you to stay away!" The other voice comes into view. A white mecha with red details. He pulled the smaller bot with a servo away from the Seeker. He also carried the Autobot insignia.
“He's hurt Ratch! I just don't want him to panic." The yellow bot says, turning his focus back to Thundercracker. "Hey, we just came to help. I heard you screaming for help and went to get Ratchet to help in case someone was hurt." He says calmly, his servos still rising towards him in a non-threatening manner.
Thundercracker didn't know what to believe, he looked around, seeing that his leg had been removed from the rocks, the white mech was working on the wounds that now, not buried, it was more visible how bad the situation was. Cables and parts of his leg were cut, probably because of the rocks, the mecha was using a device to patch the cut cables. There was energon everywhere.
He looked at his arm, the wound was covered by a piece of metal that ensured the cables and energon wouldn't leak again. And his wing was patched with another piece of metal keeping it stable.
He kept panicking, not understanding what was happening. The white mech sighs, "I turned off your pain receptors, so you won't feel pain while I work on you." He says coldly, going back to patching up his leg.
“You are...." The yellow bot looks at his wing, at the Decepticon insignia, his lips form a straight line, squeezing his optics anxiously "I expected they would have come back to find you..." He turns his optics to the Seeker. Thundercracker is taken a back. Is this a joke? He scowls at the Autobot, grinding his dentas.
“W-what? Decepticons? Back to a wounded soldier??" He chuckled, letting out a few coughs wiht energon, "what a joke..." He says sourly, "don't make me laugh, Autobot." He glares at the Autobot.
The small bot blinks in shock, snorting back, "My name is Bumblebee!" He says firmly, crossing his arms in front of his chassis. “And you?" He says, raising an optical ridge.
“It doesn't matter..." He looks away, a pained air leaking from his field. "Why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance? A downed Decepticon is better for you, isn't it?" He asks casually, as if it were the most normal thing to ask.
The two Autobots stop and stare at each other, a horrified look shared between them. “We... We don't attack wounded people! That would be barbaric!" The white Autobot responds, rising from his knee. "I don't know how things work over there, but we Autobots don't shoot wounded soldiers, no matter the side."
Thundercracker looks at him in shock. "I wouldn't let you die, even if we were enemies!" said Bumblebee, a servo near his chassis. “And look at your condition! What happened?" He points to his body.
“I..." Thundercracker opens his mouth, but closes it. He tries to remember, but his processor was fried, he couldn't remember anything. His expression was of horror, he was panicking again.
“Calm down!" Bumblebee places the servos on his shoulder plates, causing him to flinch. He shouldn't feel pain, Bumblebee looks at him confused by the reaction. "I'm sorry I..." He pauses, "I just want to help.”
“Leave me alone..." He forces the vocalizer harder, coughing up energon again. Bee looks at the doctor again, a look of concern on his face. The white mech sighs with a frown on his face.
“I can't do much with just what I have here, I'll need to bring reinforcements." He puts a kind servo on Bumblebee's shoulder plate, sighing. "I want you to keep an eye on him, in a few minutes the rest of his body will reactivate and I want you to keep him calm until I get back." He turns to the Seeker, “And you, try not to exert too much effort if you want to stay alive." He says in a stern tone.
Thundercracker just looks to the side, looking at his good arm, his weapon was broken, he couldn't use it even if he wanted to. Sighing deeply, he looks at the doctor, "Whatever…”
The Autobot looks at him with a worried look before turning away from the ravine and transforming and driving away. Bumblebee watches him leave and turns his focus back to the Seekers.
“Okay..." He kicks a rock, "this is awkward.” He swings his arms back and forth without really knowing what to do. He walked in and looked at the stars, "Ah... Do you like the stars?" Thundercracker looked at him confused, "You know? Because you're always flying and everything, I thought you saw the stars constantly." He laughed nervously.
Thundercracker pauses and looks up at the sky, seeing the stars blinking one at a time, "No. I don't have time to do that." He replies coldly, still looking up. "The only times I could do that are during battles." He looks down.
“Oh." Bee responds awkwardly. "I kind of like them. It's not as grand or close as back on Cybertron, but it's pretty cool." He says looking up at the sky. The Seeker slightly raises his optics towards the Autobot, noticing a slight smile on his face.
“Good for you, I guess." He rolls his eyes, but the Autobot doesn't seem to notice, distracted by the beauty of the starry sky. Thundercracker couldn't resist looking at the stars again. That's when he noticed a line of light falling from the sky. “What the-?”
“A shooting star! Here on Earth, humans have a tradition, if you see a shooting star you must make a wish!" Saying this with a wide smile, he crosses the digits of his servos, closing his optics and staying silent for a few seconds before turning towards Thundercraker. “What did you wish for?” He smiled welcomingly.
That smile... That damn smile. Thundercracker felt his energon heating up. "Can you stop smiling like an idiot??" He says crudely. Bee is taken a back by that.
“W-what?”
The Seeker growled, "You Autobots always smiling and acting like little friends is unbearable! Do you know how annoying that is??" He snapped at the Autobot, "You guys are... So annoying!!" He forced his optics shut. Bumblebee was silent, just letting him yell at him.
“You're all very welcome, and buddy-buddy!! How do you do it??" He looks back at Bee, "Why are you like this??”
The Autobot just stares at him silently, a pained expression on his face. “That... That It's just how we are." Thundercracker drops his expression. "There's no real reason why we act this way. It's just how we are. We are a team, we trust each other and we work together.” He sounded proud, with that sweet smile of his. Thundercraker's spark flared.
“That... I don't understand..." He said, looking down with a conflicted expression. "It's not like that with the Decepticons! Why?? Why can't it be like that??" He glares at Bumblebee again, "Why did they leave me??" His voice broke again.
He could feel his servo and right arm again, bringing It back to his face. Bumblebee looked at him in shock, and slowly he approached the Seeker.
“I don't... I don't know." He pauses, sitting down next to him, "but, you can always change things." He glances at him.
“I can't! My trine! Skywarp and Satrscream, I can't leave them!" He felt tears form in his optics again, looking away from the Autobot. "No one can leaves the Decepticons..." He says, clenching his servo.
“Skyfire did.” He says, hesitating to put a servo on his shoulder plate. Thundercracker looks in his direction, remembering when Skyfire was recruited to be a Decepticon just to throw him away when he became enchanted with the organic beings on the planet. “If he can, so can you. You don't even have to join us!" He gives a calm smile, "You should choose for yourself. Don't limit yourself because others force limits on you." He tightens his grip on his sholder, "We're not on Cybertron anymore. Things are different." He says softly, meeting Thundercraker's optics.
A sea of silence between the two becomes obvious, Bumblebee feels that he is making him uncomfortable and removes the servo from his shoulder plate. Thundercracker, on the other hand, grabs his servo with his trembling one.
Bumblebee looks at him again in surprise. Thundercracker doesn't look at him, with a pained expression. "I can't..." He says, "I just can't..." He sounds tearful. Bumblebee held himself back from giving the Seeker a comforting hug, but he knew he wouldn't feel comfortable doing that.
Then he heard a sound of vehicles approaching, but not from the ground, but from the air. Thundercracker immediately widens his optics, pushing Bumblebee aside.
“You better go! Now!" He says looking at him, feeling pain in his leg and arm again. Bumblebee tries to protest but seeing that it was the Speakers approaching he moves away. "Go away!!" He says with a serious look.
Bumblebee looks at him worriedly before transforming and driving away from the ravine. Leaving Thundercraker alone with a servo slightly raised towards him. He looks up, the darkness making it almost impossible to identify who it was.
"Thundercracker!!" The two Seekers landed firmly on the ground in front of him, standing close he could see that it was Skywarp and Acid Storm. "Primus, what happened!?” Warp approaches him, placing a servo on his shoulder and another holding his faceplate in a worried tone.
“I... I don't know.." he groans in pain. Placing his servo over his broken arm. The two Seekers look at each other and Skywarp tightens his grip on his trinemate's shoulder.
“Let's go back to base, we'll fix you up, okay? I promise." He says in a more caring tone, somewhat abnormal for Skywarp who was normally always disinterested. With Acid Storm holding onto Skywarp's wing, they prepare for the Seeker to teleport them back to base.
They are covered in a purple energy and in a flash they are teleported away from that area. back at the base, Thundercraker lets himself fall to the ground, feeling a lot of pain throughout his frame.
All he could remember before he lost consciousness again was Starscream questioning what was going on before yelling for them to get Thundercracker to the medical bay as soon as possible.
He doesn't remember anything else after everything goes dark and stuffy.
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Bumblebee returned to the ravine where Thundercracker had been a second ago, a sad look in his face. He heard the sound of wheels approaching, Ratchet is back, this time next to Wheeljack and more medical equipment.
“Where is he?" The doctor asks, sounding seriously concerned. Bee took a while before opening his mouth to speak.
“H-he was taken by some Seekers!" He says pointing to the spot he was before, now empty with only energon and metallic pieces scattered on the ground.
“Scrap... Let's hope they have a doctor, his injuries were too serious to ignore." This only makes Bumblebee more worried.
“Hey, kid. Don't be like that, I mean, he's a con, you don't have to worry about him!" Wheeljack says, receiving a slap behind his helm by Ratchet making him let out an " OUCH! ”
He knew Bumblebee was the friendly type who cared easily for others. And even though Thundercracker was a Decepticon, Bumblebee couldn't get past the fact that the Seeker was clearly unhappy and hurt.
It hurt his spark that he couldn't do anything. Especially considering Thundercracker was a Decepticon and he was an Autobot, no one would think of wanting to help him.
Unable to do anything, what they could do now was return to Ark. Optimus was probably worried about his absence. He didn't want to worry the Prime.
The three bots begin to head back, Bumblebee visibly down compared to the other two. And Ratchet, noticing this, placed a servo on his shoulder plate.
“Don't be like that, kid. We did what we could to help him." He says in an understanding and comforting tone. "Let's go before they start looking for us." He pats the smaller bot on the shoulder.
Bumblebee looks at him and smiles weakly, looking at the stars still thinking about the things Thundercraker said. He thinks back to the wish he made earlier on the shooting star. Closing his opitics, he makes his wish again.
“ I want Thundercraker to be free. ”