Honorable

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

PG
IDW All Hail Megatron
Skywarp
no warnings

Yeah, another little ficletty thingie. 

Spoilers for AHM. 

 

 (SPOILER: At the end of AHM, Skywarp shoots TC in the face for his disloyal action in helping save the Autobots by deflecting the nuclear bomb).

Skywarp cursed, ducking behind the twisted metal hulk of what had once been a human military personnel carrier. Shots whistled over his head, punching chips of concrete from the wall behind him. His systems were too hopped on panic right now to even process the pain from the hole punched in his wing. Fraggin' lucky shot. Right through his aileron controls. In
short, he was grounded and trapped.

And an Autobot was determined to make the most of it.

He punched a hand through the glass of the landcarrier's crackled side window. The first blast went to blowing the far window, the second toward some suppressive fire. He couldn't pinpoint the location of the shots—the shooter was moving. Which means that he'd just given away his tactical edge. Frag. Stupid move, Skywarp. Never could think ahead.

Thundercracker always told him that would get his aft in trouble. Yeah, his aft and...the rest of him.

He didn't want to think about Thundercracker. Thundercracker whose fault this probably was. If he hadn't diverted that fraggin' bomb, the Autobots would have crumbled. And the humans, with one of their major cities reduced to a radioactive crater, would have fallen, one by one.

Honor. Thundercracker had said there was no honor in the bomb.

Yeah? Skywarp thought bitterly as another shot, larger, bludgeoned into the wall behind him, fist-sized chunks of concrete and bent rebar. He winced, trying to cover himself, but with his position all he could do was hunch over the personnel carrier as the rubble slammed into his wingspan. He felt metal give, circuitry tear loose from its connections, sparks zing across his net. His HUD crackled with redline alarms.

Frag. He jerked his hand back out of the vehicle, dropping down. Energon coursed less sluggishly from his punctured wing, crackling when it came across the sparking from broken wires. He stumbled back as another blast rocked the vehicle on its wheels, landing hard on his aft, wings grating against the wall behind him. He braced his thruster heels on the pavement, trying to find his attacker, both arms thrust forward. He cursed—not for the first time—the design that insisted that his arms be straight to fire his main weapons.

His fists, desperate to target, jumped from vector to vector, desperate to figure the angle of attack. Where would he be coming from? The blackened bulk of the once-grimy beige vehicle which had once protected him now stood as something behind which his enemy could be hiding, sneaking up on him.

His vents came faster. Danger was heady, exhilarating normally, but it had worn off, and his body seemed ablaze with pain, his systems slow and sluggish to respond, clogged by alarms. It worried him—he'd never felt quite like this before. Never run out of cybadrenaline before. Never had pain and the slight skirl of fear cascade over his sensornet before. Always, in battle, he loved danger. Always, before now.

One last explosion, loud enough to buzz his audio into non-function, as a direct hit slammed into the building above him again. He felt the structure yield behind him, giving in, surrendering to the assault, dropping massive bits of metal and concrete on him. Always, before now.
 

The last thought in his processor before it stuttered into silence, pounded offline by several tons of debris, was...Thundercracker...is this more honorable?



Comments

[crimsonseastorm.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooo very interesting!!!

I have doubts that TC thought very long on the repercussions of his actions here :S still can't believe he ended up living O.o

Regardless I like XD Skywarp is always fun to play with XD

[mpinsky.livejournal.com]

Yes. Just...yes.

You know my affinity for IDW AHM, and this definitely portrayed things perfectly, especially Skywarp's contemplation on his brother and their differing senses of honor.

Lovely. Really, just lovely. <3