Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You can't be serious."

Wheeljack didn't often feel the need to question Skyfire's choices... but Skyfire rarely made choices that were so very questionable.  Science Outpost Titan Skyfire was famously even tempered, easy to deal with, and even sweet.  By the standards of a Titan, anyway.  He was by far the most active of the living Titans, certainly the most willing to talk to anyone living within his halls.  The one most people might think would neither need nor want a city speaker of his own.

One might think.

Skyfire's hologram flickered as he feigned sitting across the desk from Wheeljack, making a fine show of threading his fingers together.  If not for the unnatural silence of it, if not for that annoying flicker Wheeljack had been working on for weeks, he would have thought he was in the room with another mech.

"I've made my choice, Wheeljack."

"But him?" Wheeljack threw up his hands.  "Primus on a pogo stick!  He'll have half the labs set against the other in a week!"

Skyfire's wings twitched.  "I like him."

And that really was all there was to say about it.  The Titan had spoken, after years of interviewing and rejecting city speakers presented to him.  He had chosen.  The suite of the city speaker was to be made ready-

For Starscream of Vos.  An obnoxious peacock of a seeker who had managed to annoy and offend every mech on the station during his short time there.

"Did we do something?  We can get rid of whoever pissed you off."

Skyfire tilted his helm.  "I'm not sure that I follow."

"Skyfire, you saw him.  You met him.  He'll destabilize the entire community for the fun of it."

"You're repeating yourself, Wheeljack."  The hologram flickered again.  "Do you trust my judgement?"

Wheeljack put up a hand.  "Do you want an honest answer to that?"

Skyfire had always welcomed, even encouraged disagreement before.  The Station Titan gestured for him to go on, but Wheeljack had nothing else to say that he hadn't already said a dozen times.  No fresh arguments, only the evidence of his own optics and audials.  "I feel like your judgement may be clouded."

"Ah."  Skyfire nodded, a thoughtful look on his carefully crafted face.  "Could you... humor me?  This is the first time I've felt a connection to a city speaker in a long time, Wheeljack."

"You feel a connection to him?"

"From the moment he set foot in the landing bay."

Starscream studied his face in the mirror, inspecting the way the new paints seemed to change the shape of it. It made his optics look positively enormous, and did wonders for the shape of his chin.  A strong pattern.

Skyfire's pattern.

His mouth curved up in a smile that even he would admit was smug.

And why shouldn't he be smug?  How many city speakers before him had gone before Skyfire only to be turned away by the infamously choosy Titan?

He was in a truly elite club indeed, unlike the swarm of speakers who served the likes of Navitas, Metroplex, or Caminus, those great lazy beasts.

The glitter impregnating the paint caught the light beautifully when he turned his helm.  Oh yes, this pattern did suit him wonderfully.

But that was just a bonus.  His optics fell on the box on his berth, full of his most precious possessions.  Data pads full of schematics and the precious tools his teachers had often confiscated from him, things he'd been ordered time and time again to give up so that he could properly devote himself to the service of the great Titans.

It had never occurred to the fools that had thrown speaker after speaker at Skyfire that a Titan serving as a research station and outpost might value a city speaker with similar interests.  Starscream was certain he had only been sent to try his luck in an effort to humble him, rather than any actual attempt to install a new city speaker.

I could use a lab partner, if you're willing.

They had been the first words Skyfire had said to him as he'd connected to the Titan's powerful processor.  Starscream had never encountered a Titan so... so lively and aware.  Connecting to Skyfire had been like diving into a pool of fresh oil after vorns of wading through sludge.

A lab partner.  A laboratory of his own, free to do research as he saw fit.

Or... did Skyfire mean to use him as a pair of hands?  Just one more piece of equipment?

No matter.  Starscream would find a way to do just as he pleased.

Chapter Text

"A bit ostentatious," Skyfire drawled, watching as the last rivets were installed, locking the chair into place.

Chair, Primus.  It had been the first thing Starscream had requisitioned -- not even furnishings for his personal suite had come before the-

Well, there was no getting around it.  Starscream had ordered a throne, decorative in its construction and almost managing to outshine the processor of the titan it now shared a room with.

In the past, Skyfire had tended to favor more austere city speakers, when he'd bothered with them at all, and most of them had preferred to work from the station three floors down -- which was in the process of being redecorated to Starscream's tastes in any case.  There was, most people insisted, something deeply unnerving about looking directedly at someone's processor, even when that someone was large enough to encompasses multitudes.  Possibly, it was even more unnerving.

It was part of why Skyfire had been so eager to try Wheeljack's hologram project, when he'd first proposed it.  To be able to interact with his crew, for them to see him, and stop treating him like an oversized drone or AI program.  Even the city speakers he'd interviewed over the years had treated him more like a person once there had been a face and frame for them to look at, no matter how illusory it was.

Starscream sprawled gracefully across his throne, looking immensely pleased with himself.  "It makes an impression."

"That it does."

And he looked lovely on it, like one of Bracket of Paraxis' sculptures.

Starscream shifted, letting himself look at the hologram, an arm dangling over the back of his throne.  "I want these people to understand exactly who they're dealing with.  I am the City Speaker, your hands and your voice, and the ultimate authority on your will."  His lips drew up in a slow, self deprecating smirk.  "Of course, we both know exactly what that actually means, and so do your pet lab rats, but the investors don't have to know that, now do they?"  He dropped back in the throne, crossing his legs in a way Skyfire knew had drawn many appreciative looks from members of the crew the last few days.

There was, Skyfire couldn't deny, an advantage to having a city speaker available to do the work of dealing with investors.  And, for that matter, politicians from Cybertron or one of the colonies.  City speakers were trained to handle them, unlike, say, Brainstorm, who was as likely to fry someone poking around his latest abomination in the eyes of the law as talk to them about it.  "And you think this will work?"

Starscream laughed.  "I know it will.  All you'll have to do is stand there and look impressive."  He uncrossed his legs and stood in a swift, fluid motion.  "You promised me a lab."

"I did,"  Skyfire agreed.  That hadn't been quite what he'd suggested, but it was close enough.

He'd seen Starscream's papers.  Anyone else would have published them under a different designation, but not him.  And Skyfire wanted to see what the mech would do with the space almost as much as he wanted a pair of hands to help him with his own research.

Skyfire summoned up a map of the station, tracing a glowing path for Starscream to follow.  "We're still waiting on a few shipments, but I think I have something worthwhile to show you."

Skyfire liked to think he'd managed to secure one of the best lab spaces when he'd begun making his plans.  Starscream certainly was impressed, even if he did try to play it cool; there was space enough to construct a whole shuttle, if one were so inclined.  He studied his speaker as he ran appreciative fingers over the energon processor, humming softly.  "This," he noted, "is not standard issue."

"My own design.  I had Wheeljack fabricate it for me."  Skyfire watched his speaker's optics scan the formulas that flowed neatly across the LCD walls.

"Synthetic energon?"

"It's something of a passion project.  I've gone about as far as I can with the theocraticals..."

Starscream turned, a hand on his hip.  "So now you need a pair of hands.  Which begs the question..."

"Why didn't I just tap one of the mechs already here?"  Skyfire asked.  He mimed sitting on the edge of the work bench.  He thought he'd done a rather good job of it, until he noticed his hip clipping through the top.  Damn.  He'd been working hard at spatial awareness, but he still couldn't quite-

Skyfire shifted until he was seated properly.  It gave him time to think.

"I like the way you think.  It's been a long time since I touched a mind like yours.  You're... sharp.  I want that sharpness.  Wheeljack and the others-"

"Are about as sharp as a cuddly toy?"  Starscream suggested.

Skyfire spread his hands.  "They're good mechs, brilliant mechs.  But I can't connect with them, and they won't challenge me."  He leaned forward.  "And the first thing you did..."

Had been to issue a challenge, demanding that the Titan prove that he was worthy of Starscream's time.

City speakers did not challenge.  They were supplicants, hoping to be deemed worthy of a Titan's condescension. 

"I'm going to need my own fabricator," Starscream said, already making plans for the space.  "I will not be beholden to Wheeljack for my work."

Chapter Text

"Do you ever think about having one of your own?"

Starscream snorted, turning away from the chaos of sparklings running rampant through Skyfire's promenade.  Their teachers were making a valiant effort to corral them, but they were outnumbered, outwitted, and outmatched.  The drones would be cleaning little hand prints off the strangest places for cycles to come.  "Perhaps.  If I can find someone worthy of mingling my CNA with.  It would be a tragedy if I produced a sparkling with someone inferior."

"That's a rather cold way to look at it."

"I'd think you'd appreciate the logic.  Mine is a rare talent, and one that should be encouraged, for the good of all metrotitans."

"The emotional well being of my Speaker and his potential offspring concerns this particular metrotitan."

Starscream sauntered along the upper walkway, well out of reach of the shrieking horde below.  "I'm fine."

"You spend little time with the others.  Seekers tend to be more... social."

"I don't bother with those not worth my time.  Besides," he said, trailing his claws lightly across the rail. "I have you.  What more could I possibly want?"

The silence between them was thick with exactly what they were both thinking.  Starscream wasn't Skyfire's first Speaker, and he was an attractive mech, even if he did have the temper of a sharkticon with a toothache.

"Get your processor out of the gutter."

"I'm a realist, Starscream.  I've had Speakers who I worked well with who opted to move on because they couldn't find... companionship."

"I am hardly going to abandon my duty because I'm not sharing my berth," Starscream laughed.

"It's not just that."

Starscream turned to watch the school group as their rampage continued through the canteen.  "If I ever get that desperate, I have a trine I can ship out here."

"Thundercracker and Skywarp."  Skyfire had picked up bits and pieces about them from Starscream's mine; he'd even felt the faint threads of their bond.  Skyfire didn't doubt that they would come, if Starscream called.  He was clearly the dominant personality in the trine.

"My beloathed.  We'll want to reinforce your hull before they'd get here.  Oh, and Skywarp isn't allowed in your processor chamber.  He likes to poke things.  I won't have him resetting your systems because he spotted a shiny button."

"He sounds like a gas."

"He's an idiot.  He's lucky I love him."

"Oh, profoundly so, I'm sure."

Starscream stopped, narrowing his optics at the nearest camera.  "Was that sarcasm?"

"Just a touch.  Wheeljack thinks you've been a bad influence on me.  I haven't the spark to tell him I've always been like this."

Starscrean resumed his slow meander, optics returning to the school group.  "So, who were you planning to set me up with?"

"Beg pardon?"  Skyfire asked, the paragon of innocence.

Starscream smiled faintly as one of the little hellions tackled another into a table.  "I've never met a metrotitan that wasn't mad for sparklings, and you're one who plans ahead before making a move.  So.  You obviously have someone in mind.  Who is it?"

"You seem to get on well with that new medic."  As well at Starscream got on with anyone, anyway.  They were able to have conversations that lasted more than three minutes and didn't end in a screaming match.

"Knock Out's an acid glossa'd gossip, and we'd rip each other's optics out within a solar cycle.  Besides, he's got a conjunx back on Velocitron."

"I - did not know that.  He's never said."

"I took the liberty of snooping, since I knew you wouldn't."  Starscream's smile grew.  "His name is Breakdown.  Big mech.  Convoy class, I think."

"Ah.  Well."

Audial shattering shrieks echoed up to Starscream, and he lingered there, just enjoying the view.  "Someday," he finally said.  "It would be a shame to not pass on this coding.  Can you imagine a universe without this facial structure?"  He gestured to his face, raising his chin to achieve the best angle for the camera.

"It would be a tragedy."

Chapter Text

There are few things quite so intimate as being directly connected to another being's processor -- as far as Starscream was concerned, in fact, there was nothing so intimate, and nothing he'd craved more since first joining with Skyfire.

"Even sharing your spark?" Skyfire had asked, possibly teasing him.  It could be hard to tell with him, sometimes; Skyfire kept a wicked sense of humor carefully hidden behind a mask of polite innocence that few people ever bothered to penetrate.  It delighted Starscream that he was allowed to see what lurked beneath, but sometimes the titan was a mystery even to him.

"I share my spark only with my trine," Starscream said with a derisive little sniff.  "And that is hardly an intimacy.  They're... trine," he said, as if that explained everything.  And Starscream knew that it did -- Skyfire knew Starscream's mind better than anyone ever could.

"But not with a lover?"

"I have yet to meet a mech worthy of that level of closeness.  When I do, I'll let you know so you can start planning the nursery."

"I wouldn't dream of interfering with your vision on that score, Star."

Starscream flicked a dismissive glance at Skyfire's processor as it turned placidly at the center of the camber.  "What about you?  Has anyone ever seen the star that pulses at your core?"

Starscream watched a crackle of energy dance across Skyfire's processor as he accessed his memory storage.  "Not since I opted to format myself as a space station.  A very long time ago."  The hologram flickered into existence near where Starscream's legs dangled over the side of his throne.  "That sort of intimacy is rare amongst titans."

"It would have to be, wouldn't it?  The heat of your spark could melt a normal mech to slag."

"Indeed."  Skyfire crossed behind the throne, looking at his own slowly spinning processor.  "The last time someone tried to merge with Metroplex before I left Cybertron was... unpleasant."

Starscream was quiet for a surprisingly long time before he spoke again.  "My cousin merged with Caminus."  He barely even bothered to try and hide his smirk as Skyfire's avatar flickered in surprise.  "Sunstorm's a weird little mutant -- probably the only mech who could walk into the spark of a titan and come out unscathed.  He's been driving the Mistress of Flames absolutely insane ever since.  It's ever so hard to argue with a walking miracle, after all."

"Are you sure it's not just baked into your natal flock's CNA?"  Oh, he is absolutely teasing Starscream now.

Starscream sniffed again.  "I am nothing if not kind and accommodating."

Chapter Text

The truth of the matter was, over time the memory of all past city speakers would fade.  Eventually, the files of them would be moved to long term storage, to either eventually be deleted in a storage purge or just degrade.  It was just the way of things; in the end, entropy always won.

Skyfire was not that old, that he had lost memories of his city speakers, but he was aware of the slow fade of them.

"Who is that tacky creature?"  Starscream demanded, glaring murderously at the old memory file Skyfire had unearthed and was reviewing.  Wheeljack had been asking about the results of an experiment from twelve decavorns back; the published results were locked behind a paywall now, but Skyfire still had all the raw data and records.  He just needed to hunt around a bit to find what Wheeljack was looking for.

"That would be your predecessor, Flare.  Predecessors, really.  She was from Devison, though I can count the number of times I saw her uncombined on my hands."

Starscream grumbled derisively.  "A grounder, Skyfire?  Really?"

"Few city speakers are as blessed as you, Starscream."  Skyfire continued to review the memory file, and if he lingered on the moment when Flare was in view-

Flare had been something special.

All of them had been, in their own unique ways, and sometimes Skyfire could still feel their presences lingering in his halls.  In his processor.  Echos.

Charger had chosen that particular shade of white for the medbay floors that was slightly golden if you looked at it just right.  Reverb's energon still continued to serve even millenia after he himself had ceased to function.  Twotap had composed the music Skyfire played in the elevators, and Klurge had developed the particularly effective cleaning solution that everyone but Starscream used in the wash racks.

And someday, that would be Starscream, too.  Another ghost walking the halls and whispering in his processor.

Chapter Text

Starscream had been turning the thought over in his processor for months, keeping it locked deep withing his subroutines to keep Skyfire from noticing it. Starscream had always been fantastic at compartmentalizing, and it wasn't like Skyfire was the sort to snoop, but-

But he would worry, if he were to know what was occupying Starscream.

That Starscream was thinking about how, some day, there was going to be an After Starscream. That he was just another link in the long chain of Cityspeakers who would serve as Skyfire's hands and voice -- not that Skyfire needed either of those. Someone else would have access to Skyfire's systems, his thoughts, his secrets-!

The very idea made Starscream's tank roil.

The worst part was the inevitability of it. Cityspeakers passed on, while titans went on, eternal. The hab he occupied, the throne, his place in Skyfire's affections...

Starscream wasn't exactly sure when he decided that the very idea was utterly untenable. It just crept up on him, like a tiny rust spot that blossomed into full decay.

This was his place.

Skyfire was his titan.

Nothing was going to take that away from him.

Starscream didn't bother to check what time it was on Caminus -- it didn't matter the least little bit to Starscream, and it wasn't like Sunstorm ever recharged anyway. He'd always been strange, even before he'd walked into the spark of a titan.

Sunstorm's smile was annoyingly brilliant as he made a ridiculously graceful gesture -- some weird Camien thing, Starscream was sure. "We are always honored to hear from the Cityspeaker of the most esteemed Skyfire."

Starscream bit back a groan of annoyance, but that was the extent of his patience for Sunstorm and his... Sunstormness. "How'd you do it, you crazy little freak?"

Sunstorm blinked and raised a single brow ridge. "I'm going to need some clarification, cousin."

Starscream waved a hand at the screen -- at Sunstorm. "You, you absolute weirdo, walked into the pulsing heart of a titan and walked back out without so much as a scorch mark on your paint. How?"

Sunstorm folded his hands under his chin, and if it were anyone else, Starscream would have called his expression smug. "You know what I love about you? Your unwavering dedication to being your most authentic self."

"Sunstorm."

Sunstorm twirled his fingers. "I am beloved by Primus, as are all Cityspeakers, but I especially so. Becoming truly one with Caminus was... a leap of faith."

Starscream snorted, disgusted. "That is distinctly unhelpful." He drummed his fingers on his desk, plans finally solidifying in his mind. "Fine. Only one thing for it. I'm coming there."