Thundercracker is struck dumbfounded by the sight of himself
turning on his new allies in the sky above.  Soon, however, his logical
thought processes return, and he begins to hash out his confusion.

	--*That's an interesting plan.  Laserbeak must have spilled his
diodes to Megatron.  Didn't think Onslaught had it in him to come up with
this.  Is that Skywarp with a paintjob, a cheap mockup, what?  I'd better
go straighten this out.*--

	Just as he makes a move to launch himself skyward, his double comes
soaring away from the battle, twisting, turning, and disappearing behind a
row of buildings.  Thundercracker steps through Octane's wreckage, towards
the area where the doppleganger vanished, when suddenly, the twin in
question comes streaking around the corner, barreling straight at him.
Frozen in surprise, Thundercracker braces for a painful impact, only to
witness the jet dissipate and phase through him instead of crashing into
him or splitting him in two.  He watches in amazement as the image
dematerializes and retracts into an alleyway just off the road.

	Thundercracker narrows his optics and approaches the alley
cautiously.  Turning the corner, he finds a green Autobot looking weakly
back at him, filled with guilt and remorse.

	"I'm... I'm sorry, Thundercracker..." he offers, somberly.

	"Don't think that way, Hound.  You did the right thing."

	Thundercracker spins around to find Sunstreaker staring him down, a
smug grin decorating his faceplate.  As the betrayed leans back against the
wall in disbelief, Sunstreaker radios a message to the other Autobots,
declaring his whereabouts and announcing that he has located the
"turncoat."

	"I think you understand why we had to do this, don't you,
Decepticon?" the gleaming golden Autobot asks rhetorically, his smile
growing more sinister with every word.  "You know you don't belong here."

	"I... I... I can't believe you..." Thundercracker stammers in
response.  "I threw away my world... I risked my LIFE for this..."  He
looks helplessly over to Hound, who bows his head away from
Thundercracker's optics.  "I.. I thought you were the good guys."

	"Spare me," Sunstreaker snaps, jabbing quickly at Thundercracker's
face and knocking him down.  "We are the good guys.  You're the bad guy,
remember?  Our job is to fight rust-sucking bastards like you.  So don't
think for a second that you can lay a guilt trip on me.  You can just fly
your little act back home to Megatron."

	Thundercracker springs back up and belts his tormentor with an
uppercut, staggering him backwards.  Throwing one last scowl in Hound's
direction, he puts his hands to his head and walks out of the alley, trying
to clear his thoughts.  Sunstreaker leaps out onto his back, tumbling over
into a close-quarters brawl that Thundercracker is more than happy to
fight.  The two combatants roll over each other, clawing and hitting
whenever they can, snarling and spitting out insults until Thundercracker
comes out on top, perched upon the Autobot and raining fists down onto his
cranium.

	"Do you realize what you've DONE to me?" he shouts, frantically.

	"Yeah, 'Con," Sunstreaker snaps back, forcing his way out from
under Thundercracker's beating.  "I've ruined all your perfect little plans
to fuck with us from the inside..."

	"The Decepticons will kill me on sight..." he mutters, struggling
against Sunstreaker.  "The Autobots will kill me for what YOU did..."

	"Dammit, give it UP!" Sunstreaker shouts, shoving Thundercracker
into a wall.  "The game is OVER."

	"This isn't a game!  This is my LIFE!" he screams, grabbing
Sunstreaker's throat and slamming him back into the ground.  The powerful
urge to kill swells up within Thundercracker's frame once again as he
watches his enemy squirm beneath him.  But before he has the chance to
fight that urge, he is tackled off of Sunstreaker by another attacker.

	"The jig is up, CRACKER." Trailbreaker spits, bearing down.  "You
won't live to fuck around with me again."

	"No.. Trailbreaker.. it's not what it looks--"

	"Don't even TRY it!" he growls, wrapping his hands around
Thundercracker's throat in an eerily similar manner.  But he manages to
wedge his legs in and kick Trailbreaker off of him.  Scampering to his
feet, he turns defensively to see more Autobots gathering in the distance.


	"I didn't betray you, Trailbreaker," he says, finally.  "Ask Hound
for the truth."  He turns to escape as Trailbreaker looks to Hound,
standing meekly near the alleyway, utterly unsure of himself.
Thundercracker doesn't look back as he transforms into his jet mode and
streaks away from the laser fire of the misguided Autobot counterattack.


			*******************************


	The sun begins to splinter its color throughout the night sky, and
the stars begin to fade away.  The ocean waves slide smoothly onto the
beach, the bubbling white crests spreading out widely across the sand.  The
darkness on the horizon grows ever smaller as a few scattered humans float
in simple vessels, trying to catch a meal for their families.
Thundercracker sits alone on the beach once more, staring into the
remainder of the night.

	--*What happens now?  What can I do?  The outsider... despised by
all.  Lost in the void.  Alone in war.  Nothing... nothing... nothing.
Nothing but the stars.  The stars...
	I could escape.  I could leave this behind.  All of it!  Split the
planet.  Find out what else is out there besides this senseless war.
Desert entirely.  Find peace for myself.   No one here will let me find it.
I have to go somewhere else.  Explore.  Learn.  Live.  Find out what there
is to know.  Discover.  Yes.  Yes.  This is what I have to do. *--

	As he moves to take control of his destiny, he spots a disturbance
in the distance of the ocean.  As it moves closer, it takes a robotic
shape, methodically plodding towards the shore, towards Thundercracker,
whose optics widen with anticipation once recognition strikes him.

	"DEAD END!" he shouts with joy.  "You got out!  You made it!"  He
runs into the water and helps him back onto shore.  "You're free, Dead,
you're free.  How'd you get out?  How'd it happen?  They didn't mess with
you, did they?  I hope not.  Listen, the Autobots aren't any good, either,
so what we'll do is take--"

	Thundercracker is cut off by a sudden left hook from the Stunticon.
He staggers and falls backwards, and when he gathers himself, he looks
back up to an unforgiving Dead End.

	"Look, Dead, I'm... I'm sorry.  I'm sorry I dragged you into this.
I didn't mean... I didn't want it to turn out this way.  I'm sorry for
whatever they did to you.  You gotta believe me."  Dead End wordlessly
raises his weapon and trains it on Thundercracker, who dodges just in time
to avoid the blast.  The Stunticon closes on him, as he frantically
searches Dead End's optics, sensing a peculiar nothingness behind them.

	"No... they wiped you, didn't they?  Those BASTARDS wiped you.
They... no."  Dead End swings at Thundercracker again, clanging against his
cranium with a closed fist.  Thundercracker doubles backward into a heap,
staring helplessly at his attacker.

	"This is all my fault... They destroyed your mind... All because of
me..."  Dead End throws a kick at Thundercracker, who rolls away to avoid
the blow.  "I... I can't let you keep doing this, Dead.  Let... Let me put
you out of this misery..."  As Thundercracker raises his weapon, the
Stunticon suddenly stops cold.  The former Decepticon narrows his optics in
confusion, until he hears a thunderous approach behind him.  He spins to
investigate and is utterly paralyzed with fear.

	"Treason is quite costly, Thundercracker," Megatron growls.

	Unable to think, Thundercracker can only regret pondering the
benefit of personal attention from Megatron before.  Unable to move, he
watches helplessly as the face of his nightmare contorts with hatred and
his fist draws back to strike.  Unable to live, he plunges into
unconsciousness, without a chance to bid farewell to his mind.


			******************************



				EPILOGUE


	The delivery is late.

	Thundercracker stands on the loading dock of a recently annexed oil
drilling platform, awaiting Astrotrain's arrival with the siphoning
equipment.  The delivery is late.  He must remember to report this to
Shockwave so proper discipline can be administered.

	"Hey, Cracker!" comes Skywarp's shout from the deck above,
prompting him to alter his glance upwards.  "CATCH!" Skywarp shouts as he
dumps an entire barrel of crude oil onto Thundercracker, who stands still
for a moment, analyzes his situation, and then begins to clean himself off.

	"Cripes, will ya look at that?"  Skywarp gripes to an oblivious
Hook.  "No trace of a reaction.  The guy's just no fun anymore."

	Hook grunts indifferently as he concentrates on rewelding a section
of the platform that was damaged in the assault.  Skywarp glances down
towards Thundercracker again and scoffs.

	"Talk about a dull group of Seekers.  Me 'n' Ramjet are the only
ones left with any sorta personality to speak of.  Looks like we got a
bunch of boring strike patrols comin' up--"

	"Will you shut up and get back to work, please?" Hook snaps.

	"Okay, okay," Skywarp responds.  "Don't get your cables in a knot."
Thundercracker continues with his cleansing as his optics resume monitoring
the sky around Astrotrain's expected trajectory.  Skywarp's needless waste
of resources must also be reported to Shockwave, although Astrotrain's
tardiness has precedence due to its relative importance to the overall
operation of the mission.

	Soon, the transport appears on the horizon, and he soars towards
the loading dock where Thundercracker awaits to unload the cargo.
Astrotrain lands deftly, and Thundercracker reaches into his cargo bay
doors to remove the equipment.

	"You are late, Astrotrain."

	"Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Deal with it, Cracker.  I can't believe they
got me runnin' errands across a few hundred miles of mud."

	"Your function is for transport."

	"Hmph," Astrotrain spits as he transforms.  "I'm good for more than
that, you know.  I can bust up Autobots with the best of 'em."

	"That is--"

	"Besides," he continues as he takes the siphoning equipment from
Thundercracker's hands, "I shouldn't be shuttling stuff around down here.
I'm supposed to be way up there, zipping around through the stars.  You
don't give a guy interstellar capabilities and use him for gruntwork."

	"Get over yourself, Astrotrain!"  Long Haul shouts from the deck
below.  "I'd be takin' out Autobots left and right if I was on the front
lines, but you don't hear me griping, do you?"

	"I hear you griping all the time, Long Haul,"  Astrotrain shouts as
he tosses the equipment down into the Constructicon's waiting hands.  "And
you ain't got as much of a case to make as I do, anyways."

	"Hey, buddy,"  Long Haul snaps.  "If you've got something to say
about my fighting skills, why don't you step down here and say it, huh?"

	"Give it a rest, would ya?"  Astrotrain laughs.

	"You were late, Astrotrain,"  Thundercracker announces.  "I will
report it to Shockwave when he arrives."

	Astrotrain stops and turns back from Long Haul.  He puts a hand
under Thundercracker's chin and lifts his face up to his own, searching for
a sign of life within his optics.

	"They really did a number on you, didn't they?"  he says, finally.
"Do me a favor, Thunder.  Lighten up a bit."

	With a punctuating slap to the head, Astrotrain makes his way down
to the lower deck, following Long Haul's lead to the energon reserve
station.  Thundercracker remains on the loading dock, puzzling over
Astrotrain's request.

	The sun is reigning the colors of the day back in, allowing the
stars to illuminate the west once more.  As Thundercracker moves to resume
his duties, it occurs to him that one of those millions of stars above him
could conceivably be Cybertron.  He scans the sky in an attempt to locate
the particular glow of his home.  It is logically impossible, but he feels
compelled to search nonetheless.  His optics roam over the atmosphere, and
he notices an almost palpable spark within a dormant component of his
cranial circuitry.  He begins to fathom the possibility that each and every
one of these infinite stars could be a separate solar system, and each
planet could be host to a completely different form of life from what he is
accustomed to.

	Along with this realization comes another concept.  A thought
process that seems utterly alien to his fractured mentality, yet feels
undeniably natural to his remaining memories.

	Wonder.




				      FIN

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