[Transformers] Ghosts of Cybertron (9/11) - written with raisedbymoogles
Title: Ghosts of Cybertron (9/11)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: What with exorcisms, possession, and the occasional kidnapping, it's a wonder Rodimus Prime gets any work done. Especially with a ghostly Starscream making trouble around the base. But when the stirring of Cybertron's restless dead isn't limited to sarcastic ex-Seekers... Who you gonna call?

Contains an assortment of pairings, general bot-sluttery, crack, humour, and Decepticon/Autobot... 'alliances'. And Starscream. Lots and lots of Starscream.

*

"That," said Skywarp into the silence, "was really, really weird."

There was a general murmur of agreement, even from those who hadn't been inside the Matrix. Most of the room's occupants were sprawled like stunned goldfish amid a mess of now inactive tentacles. Except Starscream, who was standing over an unconscious Prime, hands on his hips, and swearing softly to himself.

"Those last two should have been the other way around," he snapped at Skyfire, who was slowly disentangling himself from a tentacle that had wound itself around his wings. "Now you've done Primus-knows-what to the energy flow in the Matrix..."

"I'm so very sorry," Skyfire replied with uncharacteristic sarcasm. He pointedly tossed the limp tentacle away from him and sat up. "I was a little distracted at the time." A pause, then in a gentler tone. "Is he alright?"

"How should I know?" Starscream knelt by Rodimus's side, stretched out a hand towards his still-open chest, where the Matrix pulsed dimly, all its blaze gone out of it. "I think he's just offline. Maybe if I--"

Starscream's hand collided with Rodimus's chest armour with a clang; he yelped as electricity jumped from one of the cables to crackle up his arm. Skyfire let out a soft exclamation. Starscream froze, staring at his own hands as though he had never seen them before. And Skywarp realised, belatedly, that Starscream was looking a lot more... substantial... than he had been a few hours previously.

In fact, come to think of it, Skywarp himself couldn't help noticing that he ached all over, and that something with sharp edges was digging into one of his wings. Cautiously, he knocked on the floor beneath him with a fist. It made a satisfyingly solid thump.

"Hey, Starscream--!"

"I know." The brief, unguarded wonder on Starscream's face melted into a frown as he looked thoughtfully down at the still-unconscious Rodimus. "The question is, did Unicron do this, or did Prime?"

"Does it matter?" Skywarp got rather unsteadily to his feet, patting himself down as if expecting to find some bits had retained their ghostly form. "How do I look?"

"Like a moron," Starscream muttered automatically, still examining Rodimus. Skyfire edged up to look over his shoulder, one hand coming to rest lightly, curiously, on Starscream's wing. Starscream shivered and twitched it aside. "Help me get the wires out..."

Skywarp watched them unclip the cables from the Matrix. Had he really been in that thing? Everything was a bit fuzzy and surreal up until the moment he'd felt himself kicked back out into reality and the blinding flare of the Matrix's power. He was vaguely aware of the others stirring, of Ultra Magnus giving Cyclonus a hand up, and of Scourge eyeing the walls nervously.

The walls remained reassuringly dark. Only the console Rodimus had been hooked up to retained any lights.

From somewhere down one of the corridors that led to this chamber, however, he could hear the thunderous approach of several heavy, enthusiastic feet. At high speed. Accompanied by Grimlock's unmistakeable roar of challenge.

"Hey, the cavalry's here!" Skywarp informed everyone cheerfully, and then teleported himself hastily out of the way.

*

Sorry for dumping them on you back there.

It was my idea. .... How are you feeling?

Foggy. ...But stronger, I think. I mean, inside. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be feeling like slag warmed over when I wake up.

Most likely.

You're a real cheer factory. ...so, is Unicron dead for good this time?

You may as well ask whether the vacuum of space can be filled. Unicron is an elemental being - nothing on this plane can truly destroy him.

...

However, I believe he has been dealt a severe blow today. You weakened him tremendously - he will not be active again for a very long time.

That's good, then. ...Thanks, Optimus.

Thank you, Rodimus Prime.

Consciousness hit him like a shot between the optics, and he groaned and covered his face with an arm to shield himself. Diagnostic warnings told him everything he already knew: fused circuitry, blown heat sinks, charred wiring and metal fractures, and he felt like slag warmed over. "Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave mechanism," he groaned out.

"If you're coherent enough to quote Shakespeare, you're not dying."

That disapproving tone... "You can't spare a little sympathy, Magnus?" He uncovered his optics just enough to offer a shaky grin to his second. "I just defeated a god for the second time."

Magnus sighed and shook his head slowly. "I'll get First Aid to patch you up for the trip home," he said. Then, just as he turned away, he added, "You did well." If it wouldn't have hurt so much, Rodimus's jaw would have dropped.

"Hmm, I suppose he's right - as much as it pains me to admit it. You did do well."

"Thanks, Starscream." Rodimus turned toward the voice and blinked. "You're looking... solid."

"When the light faded," Starscream explained with a shrug, "Skywarp and I were like this."

Rodimus frowned. "Unicron, or the Matrix?"

"I have no idea," Starscream said airily. "I plan to let Perceptor-" he smirked- "examine me thoroughly to find out."

Rodimus laughed, though it ached all through his torso. "Pervert."

"You're one to talk." Starscream stuck his glossa out at the Prime. "Besides, I didn't hear you complaining when I-"

"Finish that sentence at your peril!"

Starscream laughed at him and Rodimus sulked, but it was a content sulk. Starscream allowed himself to be shooed away when First Aid arrived, tools already in hand to fix the Prime's Matrix-injuries, and Rodimus lay back and relaxed, shuttering his optics as First Aid deftly patched his inner workings.

Not a bad day, overall.

*

"Magnus."

Bringing up the rear as he was, Magnus could pause without anyone noticing. "Cyclonus? I thought you three had left before Rodimus woke up."

Cyclonus snorted. "We just didn't want him to do anything embarrassing, like thanking us."

"I'm sure he'll write you a nice note instead."

The spacejet tilted his head and smirked in amusement, sensor-horns humming this close to Magnus's face. "But Galvatron bade me leave you a message for your leader."

Magnus nodded. "I'm ready."

In the darkness, Cyclonus's smile was bright and hard as a diamond. "Tell him that Galvatron hasn't forgotten he surrendered." With that, Cyclonus stepped back and melted into the darkness, leaving Magnus alone with his sense of foreboding.

"Your boss just wants to get him into bed," he muttered, and half expected a ghostly laugh to float back to him.

*

They had just reached the gaping hole where Sky Lynx had docked, tired and battered and, in Starscream's case at least, rather preoccupied with metaphysical questions, when there was a polite, throat-clearing noise (not that any of them had a need to clear their throats, but it was a habit some of the Earth-bound bots had picked up) from the shadows. Starscream, to his own eternal embarrassment, reacted by jumping protectively in front of Rodimus.

Oh, Primus, it was like a disease, hang around with Autobots too much and you started acting like a total moron.

Fortunately, most of the group had spun around to face the unexpected sound, and therefore missed Starscream's moment of madness. Except Rodimus himself, of course, and judging by the smirk on his damned face, he wasn't going to be letting Starscream forget it any time soon.

"I do hope you weren't planning on leaving without us."

Prowl stepped out of the shadows. Starscream saw immediately that he too had regained physical form. What was more puzzling was his presence here in Unicron's shell. Instinctively, he looked behind Prowl, and was unsurprised when Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Ironhide emerged one by one, each as solid as the day they'd come off the production line, and were tailed by a couple of minibots Starscream had never been able to remember the names of.

None of them really surprised him. The Unicron hypothesis had been amply proven by the day's events, and he'd been expecting the rest of them to show up sometime.

It was the winged shadow skulking at the back that brought him up short.

Skywarp showed no such hesitation: with a shriek of glee, forgetting even to teleport in his excitement, he flung himself across the distance and tackled their wingmate to the ground.

"THUNDERCRACKER! Oh man you won't believe what we've been through today, it was totally freaky, ask Screamer, we almost got eaten and then we went on this trippy cruise through the Matrix and I saw Optimus freakin' Prime doing the hula, and--"

"You're on my aileron," Thundercracker complained without much heat, and making no attempt to dislodge his chattering wingmate. His optics wandered to Starscream, who was not, in any way, shape, or form, fighting back a grin. "Hey, Screamer."

"Don't call me that," Starscream retorted automatically, crossing to stand over the two of them with careful nonchalance. He was vaguely aware that the Autobots were in the midst of their own madcap reunions, but he had no time for his erstwhile allies right now. "And where have you been, exactly? How have you managed to skip the non-corporeal stage and arrive fully formed? That's cheating!"

Thundercracker stared at him for a long moment.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he said at last. Then he smiled, unexpectedly and without restraint. "So at least something's the way it should be."



(TBC)