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Skywarp squirmed on the temporary medberth, trying his best to lay still. He knew he shouldn’t be moving around at all, but he couldn’t contain his excitement.
“Skywarp, please.” Knockout sighed above him. “Try to lay still.”
“I am trying.” Skywarp said from the corner of his mouth, struggling to get the words out without moving his chest. “I’m just so excited!”
“I know, I know.” Knockout said, the fond smile evident in his voice.
He leaned to one side, dipping the delicate brush in his hand into a small paint jar before bringing it back to Skywarp’s cockpit. The seeker held back a shudder when the cold paint made contact with the glass.
“Just a few more details and then we’ll be done.” Knockout promised when Skywarp’s fingers began tapping on the berth mere minutes later.
“Great!” Skywarp beamed. “Can’t wait to show the others! You’ve done an amazing job, and I’m sure Thundercracker will love it.”
“Why, thank you.” Knockout replied, preening a little. “I do take pride in my painting skills, especially so when the final product is good enough to go on camera.”
As if to highlight his point even more, Knockout switched out his current paint and began working on the details in the cracks in Skywarp’s cockpit. While the production team, including Thundercracker, had insisted on using practical effects whenever possible, a smashed up cockpit was not the easiest to pull off without actually breaking the thing. Skywarp had been up for it, but his trine mates had insisted that he would do no such thing. And so, makeup it was then.
“Are you going to actually short out my eye, too?” Skywarp asked, thinking about the other injuries his character was going to receive.
Knockout merely chuckled in response.
“No, that would be very irresponsible of me. I think they’re going to stick a tiny light next to your optic that will flash sporadically. From a distance, it should be convincing enough.”
Skywarp nodded, thinking it over, and was just about to voice another question when the door to the provisional makeup studio hissed open. In strode Thundercracker, carrying a stack of scripts in one hand and Buster in the other, followed by Starscream.
“How is it going for you in here? We were about to sta-”
Thundercracker stopped dead in his tracks, staring down at Skywarp’s frame. His trine mate tried to wave, but quickly stopped when Knockout made an annoyed sound. A few seconds of silence followed, then Starscream spoke.
“Primus, Warp! You look terrible!”
“Um, thanks?” Skywarp said, slightly confused. “Anyway, wait until you see how cool my wings look...”
Skywarp continued chatting away, happily showing off every part of makeup he’d had applied during the last two hours. Knockout quickly took advantage of the opportunity to finish the rest of Skywarp’s cockpit before he accidentally moved again.
“Ah, there we are.” He finally announced, leaning back to clean the brush before carefully placing it back into its casing. “You’re all done, Skywarp!”
Before he even finished his sentence, Skywarp had teleported across the room, twisting and turning in front of Knockout’s mirror to get a first hand look for himself. Satisfied with what he saw, the black-and-purple seeker turned towards his trine mates, face beaming.
“Well?” He asked. “How do I look?”
“Like you’re halfway to deactivation.” Thundercracker looked slightly ill as he observed Skywarp’s frame. “Are you really sure you’re okay with this, Warp?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” That slightly confused look was back on Skywarp’s face. “It’s just makeup, and I’m just playing a role, remember? It’s not like any of it is real.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Thundercracker conceded, though he still looked a bit uncertain. “Well then, would you mind warping us to the set? I’m pretty sure the others are waiting for us.”
Skywarp nodded eagerly, and after once again giving Knockout his thanks, he grabbed one hand from each of his trine mates. There was a flash, and then all three were standing in the big hangar housing several different versions of the ‘Aritas’ set. The downed battle cruiser served as setting for several pivotal moments of the film, and thus each bit had been crafted with utmost attention to detail. A large part of the crew was already there, including Soundwave, who would be starring in the day’s scenes along with Skywarp and Starscream.
Several heads turned when the bright flash of Skywarp’s teleport announced the trio’s arrival, and Thundercracker was immediately swarmed by half a dozen bots wanting his input on a myriad of things. Soundwave also came over, nodding to Starscream and Skywarp respectively. He seemed to be the only one so far not bothered by Skywarp’s appearance, only giving it a cursory glance before moving to stand beside the pair, patiently waiting for Thundercracker to be finished.
When it became apparent that his trine mate would not be done any time soon, however, Skywarp quickly found himself bored with waiting. Having not had the opportunity to freely explore the set by himself yet, he quietly wandered away, intent on getting a closer look at all the impressive details. There were some set workers spread out across the expansive hangar, and he managed to turn quite a few heads as he walked by. With the war being over for centuries, the last thing anybody expected to see was a half dead seeker.
Back in the main area, Starscream was growing exceedingly bored. At first he’d tried to follow all the technical terms and filming mumbo-jumbo that Thundercracker was spouting, but quickly discovered that it was well out of his pay grade and interest. Soundwave, on the other hand, seemed to be deeply invested in the discussion, and Skywarp had jumped ship some time ago. Maybe that had been for the best, since Starscream had to suppress the instinct to rush over and check him every time he looked in his direction. Not that anyone needed to know that.
Starscream was just about to follow his errant trine mate’s example, making up the excuse of needing to check his finish, when said trine mate materialized next to him with his signature ‘vop’. Skywarp looked even more enthusiastic than when they’d entered the set, and before Starscream could get a word in he started babbling excitedly.
“Starscream! You gotta see this! I found it!”
Without any more elaboration, Skywarp grabbed his wrist and Starscream found himself once again being teleported away. When the flash of light had disappeared, he quickly recognized another of the ‘Aritas’ variants inside the hangar. They were not even that far from the original, as the voices of Thundercracker and his crew could still be heard clearly.
There was an impatient tug on his wrist, and Starscream allowed himself to be led between control panels and corpse props. Normally, he didn’t indulge Skywarp’s whacky ideas and impulses, but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do at the moment.
They stopped in front of the ship’s main console, where Skywarp let go of Starscream’s hand to crouch in front of his own near-perfect replica wired directly into the hardware.
“Look, there he is!”
The Skywarp replica stared blankly at them, its optics covered by a thick visor. It had no limbs, the empty sockets being used as connection points to the console. The sight was rather macabre, even for Starscream, so he was surprised to see Skywarp completely unbothered.
“What do you think?” His trine mate asked, striking a pose next to his doppelganger. “Are we making the same face? I knew he would be here somewhere, but I’ve never had the time to look for him.”
He grinned up at Starscream, but the expression faltered when he saw the other seeker’s concerned face.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked.
“Warp.” Starscream began, his voice taking on a rare, gentle tone. “Have you actually read the script for our scenes?”
“Of course!” Skywarp said. “You guys might think I’m irresponsible and forgetful, but I’ve started practicing every single scene already!”
“Then you do know how you get to this point?” Starscream asked, gesturing to the replica wired into the console.”
“Of course.” Skywarp’s wings flicked a couple of times. “First I get injured in battle, then you and Soundwave decide you need new parts for the computer, so you tear me apart and fix it that way. The end.”
He finished listing off points on his fingers, then looked back up at Starscream.
For a couple of seconds, Starscream was stunned.
“And you are… really okay with this?” He finally asked hesitantly. “With me and Soundwave tearing you apart and turning you into that?”
To his surprise, Skywarp merely chuckled.
“Of course I am.” He said. “Like I told you and TC before – it’s just a role. I know you wouldn’t ever do it in real life.”
“Right?” He added after a moment of thought.
“Of course not!”
Starscream stepped forward, letting go of his facade for a moment to wrap Skywarp in a tight hug.
“I promise you, I would never do that.”