Originally supposed to be the ending for the "mini-series", but I wanted to get it out of my head before I forgot it. Once I finally get the two main stories finished, some content in here would be considered AU.

All mentioned names you recognize belong to Hasbro. I only own the OCs.

Edit: Starfire201 pointed out a mistake I had made.

Questions and Answers

I don't know what I'm doing at the "High Security Prison for War Criminals," E block. I really don't know what to expect when I'm let into the cell of the mech who Sired then abandoned me as a sparkling. However, I don't expect to see this once proud Decepticon warrior missing his entire left wing and three-fourths of the right. I don't expect most of his right leg, from the knee joint down, to be gone either.

I certainly don't expect shock to flash across his face, but it's so fast I think I imagine it.

I sit across from him in the cell that's not big enough for two flight models, let alone one. Even if one of those flight models is permanently disfigured. Neither of us speaks, so it's quiet enough for me to hear the guards talking outside.

"What's the Aerialbot here for?"

"Family." Came the disinterested reply.

"What?"

"Ya heard me. That Con's the kid's Creator."

"How the slag do you know that?" I don't hear anything after that since he picks this time to speak.

"You've grown." It occurs to me this is the first time I've heard his voice, that I can remember. It's smooth, like Jazz's, but deep, like Ironhide's. It's...soothing, actually.

"That tends to happen." He smiles. It's identical to mine.

"I guess so. Now, are you going to ask me whatever it is you need to ask, or are we just going to stare at each other all cycle?" My mouth quirks.

"How'd you guess?" He shrugs. It looks painful.

"No one comes looking for a long-lost Creator about to be executed unless they want answers."

Executed. I forgot about that. All the war criminals were supposed to die or be exiled. Crossfire evidently got the worse end of the stick, according to Cliffjumper. I didn't believe Cliff since he talks out of his exhaust-pipe half the time. Now, however, there's no doubt.

"Alright. Yeah, I want some answers. First, I want to know about my Carrier. Who was she, or he? What happened to them?" Crossfire lowers his helm slightly. I wait a very long moment before he answers.

"Her name was Solarflare. She...well, she died after you were sparked. Was murdered actually. On Megatron's orders. I couldn't do anything..." His voice trails off.

"Why?" He looks up.

"Why what?"

"Why couldn't you?"

"Because if I had,"And here he looks me in the optic. "You would have died, too. Neither of us wanted that. So as soon as we knew you'd live, she was killed."

A long silence.

"Anything else you want to know?" His voice is much quieter now.

"What happened to your trine?" I ask after another short silence.

"I never had one." I quirked my optic ridge. No trine? "I was...incompatible. With everybody. There's some kind of mutation in my Spark that messes with the coding that allows Seekers to trine."

"Then how the frag did I get here?" He shrugs again.

"The mutation doesn't do anything to my ability to Spark bond. Just trine. I can't explain it. Not smart enough to understand all that medical terminology slag." He tilts his helm slightly. "Go ahead. Ask what you really came here to find out."

Believe it or not, my throat closes up. That's the one thing I am really wanting to know, but am too afraid of the answer to ask. Eventually, I decide to get it over with.

"...Why did you give me up?" I sound like a youngling to my own audials.

"I wanted you to have a chance to grow up like a normal youngling. If you had stayed, you wouldn't have made it to your second vorn." His voice is soft, the undertone pleading.

Silverbolt, Primus bless the poor guy's Spark, told me about Decepticon sparklings that had been upgraded straight into adult bodies and sent into combat as cannon fodder. And my Sire is confirming those rumors, more or less. Primus.

"I believe you. Silverbolt told me about what happened to the other sparklings. I'm guessing you told him when you...gave me to him."

"Yeah. I'll be sure to thank him when I see him in the Well." I didn't know he knew Bolt was dead. Damn. "Now, I have a question for you." I shrug.

"Shoot."

"Do you still call yourself Airstrike?" I frown.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" He shrugs back.

"No reason." He says it nonchalantly, but there's a hint of disappointment in his voice. The cell door opens, cutting off my response. I look up to see, to my extreme surprise, Skyfire.

"Time's up, Strikes." He looks over at Crossfire. "Let's go."

"Already?" But he doesn't seem all that surprised. Skyfire nods. He stands and hobbles out first, using the wall for support. The two guards grab his arms, not bothering with the stasis cuffs hanging on one's side. I follow, watching in amazement as this mech that was feared by many grounded frames in the Autobot military actually submit to the ones he thought beneath him.

Wait, that's not true, him thinking he's above them. I'm just classifying him with all the others unfairly. I think he's resigned himself to his fate, ready to pay for all the wrong he's done.

But why aren't we paying too?

Each side has done horrible things to the other, along with any poor civilization that had the misfortune of being caught in the crossfire.

How is this justice?

But I say nothing. I watch them pretty much carry Crossfire away. I feel...well, worse then when I came. Maybe that's why I stayed away so long.

[Good-bye, Freefall.]

What the frag? Who-? Then I realize it's Crossfire's voice. The bond. I hadn't even realized I had opened it. Didn't know I could, to be honest. Freefall. Who the frag is that? I don't know anybody named...

Then I realize that's me. I remember someone (maybe Silverbolt?) calling me that. I remember telling him not to use that name, cause it sounded like a sparkling's. That's when I chose to call myself Airstrike.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Skyfire's voice startles me. I turn slightly to look at him in the corner of my optic. Did I?

Replaying our conversation in my mind, I realized I did.

"Yeah. I got my answers."