Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

..-..

It was musty,the air was moist, beads of condensation dripped down her frame and her cooling fans were on .Spitfire absolutely hated it .
She trudged through the mucky underground,mud stuck to her peds and the squelching noises under her made her growl in distaste.
Primus ,she hated Organic planets.

Her trine mates followed quietly behind her,seeming to have no hate toward the disgusting liquid underneath them.How they didn’t mind it, she would never understand.
Maybe they were hiding their distaste.

She could feel the muck sloshing against her ped panels, her thrusters were mucky and dry mud stuck to them, making its way into her seams.She shook off her ped, only to get the muck in her face-plates because of the force she shook it at.
She shouted out in anger and shook her helm, making her trine look at her like she was crazy. And honestly she probably was.

Her comm crackled and she ignored it. It wasn’t Lord Megatron, and it wasn’t the third in command -Soundwave ,nor was it Air commander Starscream- so it wasn’t important.

She glanced up at the star the planet was orbiting, a scowl on her face, it was beginning to dip below the horizon. She groaned, of course it was.
In this moment she really wished her flight protocols hadn’t been de-activated .

She stopped,grimacing at her dirty peds. Spitfire turned to Aftermath- her trine-mate who had also stopped moving.His face-plates were unreadable .
“Where are we?” She hissed.Massaging her temples with one of her digits.

..-..

Chapter Text

“Where are we?” She hissed, massaging her temples with one of her digits.

..-..

“Close to a Neutral outpost”Aftermath says. His voice was steady, complete opposite of Spitfire who was so anxious her wings were fidgeting like Starscreams would after getting a stern look from Megatron.

“Which one?” Spitfire demanded.Crossing her arms over her sleek chassis.

“Outpost; Vex-1” Jawbreaker- her other trine- mate who was an Orange Dinobot- answered.

“Thank you, Jawbreaker” she mutters.She hated Vex- 1, due to past encounters with very interesting alien life. “how far are we Aftermath?”

“36 kliks, Spitfire” Aftermath sighs. Wishing they were anywhere else.
Leave it to the Autoscum to put everyone’s day in the pits.

Spitfire groans, grumbling a curse under her vents.
36 kliks till the outpost and it was already getting dark.
Primus must really hate her!

Primus did in fact hate her. Because when they were roughly 8 kliks from Vex-1 it started raining, heavily.
The overhead clouds were dark and gloomy, and the actual sky was now pitch black, a perfect rendition of her soul and will to live at that point, tiny stars sparkled against the black background making her wish she could be up there flying above the clouds. But she couldn’t, at least for now. She’d be able to fly soon enough. Hopefully.

The mud and rain soaked her frame. Her wings fluffed out in attempt to shake it off. Drops of water ran down her chassis and her cheeks. She wiped the dripping water off of herself and growled.
Well, at least it wasn’t acid rain.. that was much , much worse.

The outpost began to come into view. The outer wall was gray and drenched in water, the wall ran around the whole thing.
The outpost was built into a mountain side.

As they neared the wall, they stopped in front of the gate. Two aliens were stationed at the entrance. One of them was a fuzzy humanoid being, it had large yellow teeth that hung out of its mouth, three eyes- two where a humans would be and one in the middle of its forehead. Its fur was shaggy and brown. If Spitfire was honest with herself it was kinda cute, in an interesting alien sorta way.
The other was slimy , and had one black eye in the middle of what Spitfire assumed was its face. It’s clear jello-like skin shifted and moved with it as it walked . Inside of its body ,Spitfire could see the remains of what looked like a cake, if it was thrown out during an acid storm and then was repeatedly stomped on by Megatron thirty seven times.

They were stopped before they could enter. The fuzzy one came up to them.

“What are your kind doing here?” It demanded in a high pitched voice. The remark did not go unnoticed.

Aftermath laughed and held up his blaster, causing the blue one to step back. Spitfire stepped in before her trine-mate could do anything.

“This is a neutral outpost Aftermath, not a place where you can threaten the residents.” She reminded, even though she too wished she could just shoot the furry thing.

Aftermath huffed, lowering his weapon in compliance.
His frame was tense and annoyed. Jawbreaker was staring intently at the blue blob who had retreated back and away from the three Cybertronians. It held a radio in its blobby blue arms that it had miraculously grown.
But it hadn’t called anyone on it yet.

“May we enter , please?” Spitfire asked, although it wasn’t really a question.

The blue blob gave them a thumbs up ,much to the fuzzy ones protest .

“We can’t just let them in!” It whispered, it seemed like it was trying to be quiet. But the three decepticons could hear them perfectly clear. Maybe it wasn’t trying to whisper.

The blue one stared very hard at the fuzzy one.

“Oh fine! But it’s your fault if they wreak havoc, Bob!” The fuzzy one shouted.

Bob shook his head, turning back to the three cybertronians who stood very politely, weapons away , waiting to be granted access to the outpost they really didn’t want to go into.

Bob pointed to the gate, the gate opened.

And the three Decepticons strolled right on into the neutral outpost.

..-..

Chapter Text

Entering Vex-1 is nothing special, it’s pretty much just a run down city with a frag ton of problems. It’s the same as the last time they were there. Depressing and built into a mountain, nothing special.

Jawbreaker however always seems to like the place.

How he likes it is nothing short of a mystery.

Spitfire scowls at the looks they get from the neutrals. All full of hate and anger. She wonders if passing Autobots would receive the same amount of looks, or if they’re treated like royalty in the hands of peasants.
Just because they’ve committed a few hundred war crimes doesn’t mean they’re bad mechs or femmes, just trying to survive. Something neutrals will never understand and they’re judging them for it? It’s utterly hilarious .

Aftermath nudges her in the shoulder-pad, his frame is less tense than it was earlier. She smirks at him, he smiles back.

“Im fine” she says, and she is. But she’d be a lot better if these neutrals would shove a stick up their afts.

“Im aware” Aftermath sighs in response. Shooting a look at someone who was staring a little too intensely at Spitfires wings.
They immediately return to whatever they were doing.

“Why’d you nudge me then?” She asks, raising an optical ridge in question.

“To remind you that we’re safe.” He says. And Spitfire believes him. As long as they had each other they were safe.

And soon they would be back on the nemesis , safe and sound in their berthrooms. They just he to contact the Decepticons somehow before they left the planet and left them stranded.

“I know we’re safe.” She mutters, stretching her wings.
It’s warm in Vex-1 ,not as warm as the rural parts but still warm. Condensation and rain drip down her frame. And as she steps her peds make the mud splash. She needs an oil bath, and a good polish. Oh and a buff, after what those Autobots did to them when they were prisoners.

She shudders off the thought, they’d escaped without any help. They’d be able to escape again if they had too.

They stop at a building, it’s a cozy wooden structure with flyers posted on the windows reading “one night stay; 150 intergalactic currency” which is cheap for a hotel. Spitfires stayed here before, it wasn’t the best intergalactic alien space hotel she’d been to but it was okay, cozy.
An elderly woman runs the hotel. Shes a fluffy ,stubby little organic, who is always wearing gorgeous fabric dresses with patterns on them.
Her designation is Fluffs. At least that’s what everyone calls her, no one actually knows if it’s her actual designation and no one really cares if it isn’t.

Aftermath opens the wooden doors and they step in, all the conversations died down to hushed whispers.
She quickly made her way to the front desk where an alien was working.

“A standard room, just for one night ,please” Spitfire asks, a forced smile upon her face.

“No can do.” The alien smirks. Its features were round, it had two eyes and it looked like Bob- the one who had let them into Vex-1- if they were working in a hotel and had an afthole attitude.

“And why is that?” She asks, a bead of condensation drips down her cheek. These guys hardly ever refused service! And now suddenly they were refusing her!?

The alien points to her wings. “Not neutral “

She groans outwardly. “Please? Just one night and then we’ll be out of here!” Shes practically begging now. She doesn’t even want to be here! “ I promise! 0600 in the morning and we’ll already be gone”

The alien thinks for a moment. It’s smirk drops.
“Hmmm” it thinks ,tapping what Spitfire assumes is its chin. “Sorry no deal” The smirk returns.”Guess you’ll just have to find some other hotel to take you for the night”

Spitfire doesn't think she’s ever felt this angry. She knows for a fact that there are aliens and organics here that aren’t neutral and they seem to be getting pretty good service if she does say so herself.
It’s because we’re metal. Isn’t it? She stops to think.
Primus! How stupid can she get? It isn’t refusing them because they have a faction! They’re being refused because they’re not organic!

She storms away from the desk. Wondering how she possibly couldn’t had realized it sooner. Stupid stupid stupid!

“We’re leaving this stupid place..”she hissed as soon as she’s close to her trine.

“Did you offend someone?” Jawbreaker jokes, slightly upset.

“No, Jawbreaker.” She mutters. Her servos twitched impatiently. “We’re just leaving, okay?”

Jawbreaker groans, but he doesn’t protest as they leave the hotel .

..( pov Change to Aftermath)..

Rain harshly pounds against the ground as they huddle under an overhanging roof . Seven hotels and none of them were willing to let them stay just one night, it was Unbelievable.

Aftermath wishes they were on the Nemesis ,even if he doesn’t express it as openly as Spitfire he desperately needs an oil bath. His frame is all mucky and wet, and it’s highly uncomfortable.

They’re all probably going to rust with all the rain thats been soaking into their plating.

Aftermath can already hear Knockout berating him for getting so dirty.

Spitfire shifts against his side, she’s asleep. Her wings are pressed low against her back and her peds are curled against her chassis in attempt to stay as warm as possible. Seekers and their need for warmth. He’ll never understand why they need to be burning to be comfortable at night.

Jawbreaker is also sleeping. He’s resting between Aftermath and the building they’re sleeping beside.
His chassis rises and falls with every vent he takes.

His trine is sleeping, so he has to keep watch. Who knows who might be out to get them here. With all the looks they’d gotten earlier , he wouldn’t be surprised if he went to stasis and didn’t wake up.
So he stays awake, and watches out for any sign of danger. They won’t be hurt again.
And that’s a promise.

Chapter Text

Spitfire POV)

She hears a rustle, it’s quiet, but she knows someone is there. Hesitantly, she stands up.
Aftermath and Jawbreaker had gone to purchase fuel from a little shop down the road. She merely hoped they’d let her trine-mates buy it.

The rustling is coming from a bush, it’s dark blue and covered in mud. A dark metallic tail is sticking out of the side of it. Hissing can be heard from the leaves.
How on Cybertron did a cybercat get here?

She moves towards the bush, wondering whether or not she should just take the little thing.
Her servos reach into the bush, and her digits momentarily touch the cool side of the cybercat. But it scrambles away and out of the bush before she can pick it up.

She sighs in defeat, why must the cute things always be so skittish? She stands beside the bush for a few moments, wondering if she should reach her servo in to see if there was something the cybercat was playing with. She decides against the idea and begins walking towards the shop Jawbreaker and Aftermath had gone to.

As she gets there, Jawbreaker and Aftermath are already walking out. Energon in hand, the three of them decided not to question where the shop owners got the energon on the organic planet that is said to have none.

Jawbreaker hands her a thing of energon, unlike normal energon thats in a cube it’s in a glass jar that looks like something Knockout would shove a human-prisoner in.
She drinks it up greedily, it had been around two and a half days since her last refueling from when they’d been autobot prisoners. It tastes unnaturally good, like someone had put artificial sweeteners in it.

“You shouldn’t drink it so fast” Jawbreaker warns, “if you drink it that quickly you might purge”

“Don’t be like that, she’s hungry” Aftermath says, crossing his arms over his chassis.

“Yeah but if someone refuels too quickly after not having any energon for a few days their tanks won’t be able to handle it and they’ll purge !” Jawbreaker exclaims, getting them a few looks from passing neutrals. Not that he cares.

“Who told you that?” Aftermath asks, though he knows Jawbreaker is right. He just really..really wants to argue.

Jawbreaker deadpans. “How dumb can you get?” He asks.

“Im not dumb, just wondering who told you that” Aftermath smirks ,enjoying the annoyance coming from
Jawbreakers EMF.

“Soundwave told me that after I’d drank two whole cubes after not refueling for three days. And guess what? He was right, because I purged a breem later “
Jawbreaker growled, his servos flexed and his optic was twitching.

“Okay but, how can you be so certain?” Aftermath knows he’s lost this argument.

“Im going to punch you” Jawbreaker says.

“Jawbreaker, you’re right, Aftermath stop being an aft. Also Im done my cube if you guys want to get moving?” Spitfire says, smirking at her trine-mates who huff and glare at each other.

“Yeah, we can get moving” Jawbreaker says, shooting daggers at Aftermath who glares back at him with the same ferocious intensity.

Aftermath nods ,staring at his trine-mate in both defeat and anger at the problem he had caused .

“Good, good” Spitfire says. Walking away and down the street, with a stretch of her wings.

“Im so gonna terminate you later..” Jawbreaker hisses quietly when Spitfires a good distance away.

“Im going to break every digit on your-“ Aftermath starts.

“No fighting!” Spitfire shouts.

The two immediately shut up. Jawbreaker whistles and Aftermath seems to take a lot of interest in the sky.
Funny how two words from their trine-leader can shut them up so well.

Later, the three of them are close to the north exit of Vex-1 , they entered at the South Gate and after one night(of sleeping under the edge of a roof) and a few breems they’ve finally made it through Vex-1.

Jawbreaker proposed that they head towards a Decepticon run city, or outpost to find someone who could help them get back to the Decepticons.
It was a solid plan; Find someone who is high up enough for their comm to actually get through to a high commanding Officer(hopefully Starscream or the CMO Knockout) since none of Spitfires comms have been going through(although her comm did crackle the other day when they were heading towards Vex-1) or they find someone who can re-instate their flight protocols. Preferably the flight protocols option, Spitfire doesn’t know how long she can continue on without flying. And if they get their flight back they could just fly to the Nemesis! She was so smart.

The nearest Decepticon city(or Outpost) is 6 breems away, but it’s also their best chance at getting the Decepticons attention, since they can’t seem to get ahold of them. For reasons unknown to Spitfire, maybe they’re too busy drinking high grade to even notice they’re getting commed. Or they’re too busy fighting the autobots. The list goes on.

Once again they’re trudging through mucky mud. It isn’t as bad as it was yesterday. Mainly because shes forced Aftermath to let her ride on his shoulder-pads.
So now he has to both walk through the mud and carry her on his shoulders. Shes an amazing trine-leader, she knows.

The planets sun is bright and hot in the sky, blazing down on her sore wings and making them feel rested and warm. Shes basking in it like a snake on earth would. Because it feels utterly…heavenly.
Aftermath just thinks it’s annoying and hot. He truly does not understand the amazing feeling of warmth on one’s wings. Probably because he’s a stinky triple-changer who only gets wings when he’s transforming into fight mode. It also makes him hard to read, he has audials that twitch back and forth depending on mood, but wings are so much easier to figure out! If someone’s wings are high up; they’re happy or feeling proud of themselves for whatever reason. Low; their feeling angsty, that or their embarrassed. Neutral or in between and they’re just feeling eh ! And of course they’ll twitch or move depending on exact feelings, but when you grow up around flightframes you learn that it’s like it’s own language. Just a lot more complex and only for flightframes. Megatron never seems to learn that. It’s like he’s trying to constantly integrate himself into a society that really doesn’t need him…

“You’re really enjoying being up there ,huh?” Aftermath asks, raising an optic ridge. Spitfire nods. “Good ,because I’m not enjoying carrying you.”

Jawbreaker snorts from up ahead, “ Good thing I didn’t get stuck with her.”

Aftermath huffs and blows a raspberry.

Spitfire laughs like the unicron spawn she is.