That's What Friends Are For

Sky above Crystal City

Below, a new city has risen from the ashes of the original. Lofty indigo steel towers rise high into the air, graceful and symmetrical. At night, the crystals glitter in the cold starlight, serving both as illumination and as decoration, occasionally rivaled by a brilliant flash of rainbow light from Tria. During the day, they sparkle brightly with all the scintillating colors of the rainbow.

Silverbolt is patrolling skies above the Crystal City, though he stays close to the area above the safehouse they had commuted to last solar cycle. To be honest, he is still brooding over that incident in Iaconian airspace recently. You know, the one where he almost got First Aid killed...

He flies restlessly in a somewhat erratic yet repetitious pattern, muttering to himself.

There's very few reasons for Raid to be silent at any moment. Here he appears to be in deep concentration as he bobs and weaves in the sky, sharply bankly with such force that his still-purple wings creak. Sky dancing, but he's never call it that. STUNT FLYING. It's not hard to spot the concorde, a short distance away. << Bossbot!>> he chirps abruptly. <>

Air Raid's 'stunt flying' and abrupt voice on the comm pull Silverbolt from his thoughts. He stops flight-pacing to address his comrades. <> he says, scanning the area below. <> Though he sounds agitated.

With his penchant for crashing and flying crazily Fireflight has tried to limit his aerial patrols when alone, not wanting to jeopardize the mission by drawing attention to his actions. But with Silverbolt and Air Raid already airborn he's allowed to fly, currently hanging away from the two, lazily pitching and yawning on the air currents while admiring the view. At least he isn't doing a nosedive.

But when Raid approaches their commander he finally pulls up, taking up space at his left wing. <>

"Whuh??" Bewildered at the tap, Fireflight rattles his plates a little, wavering slightly, "N-No don't do that, they didn't do anything wrong!" He calls after Raid, sounding very worried for whatever critters he's talking about. Good thing he didn't have a face, lest he start giving Raid the sad look. But the mention of something wrong has him perking up back to normal, coasting up alongside the others, tipping to one side to view Bolt at an angle. "Huh? Did I miss something?"

"No...that wouldn't be necessary, Air Raid." Silverbolt mutters at his comrade's suggestion. He glances over at Fireflight, making sure the carefree 'Bot isn't about to smash into anything dangerous. But when Air Raid asks him what's wrong he acts uncomfortable. "It's...nothing, Fireflight. I'm fine, Raid. You two did excellently last solar cycle. I was quite impressed."

F-15E Strike Eagle  smirks audibly and wiggles ailerons. "All right fine." Nothing is sweeter than praise to him, and he rolls a few times from it. "Thanks!" But some things don't just roll off his nosecone so easily - "You got some woes, we want to hear 'em. It's not as if we don't /feel/ them. Hey-hey, it ain't about freezin' up right?"

<p class="MsoNormal">"Us? What about you? You were sooo cool, Silverbolt!" Fireflight lights up at the memory of the other day, his voice loud with uncontrolled excitement. So much so that he can't keep his flight straight any longer, soon veering off sharply before diving low and rocketing back up at an angle in front of the others, spinning as he does. "Just walked right up, pulled out your gun and was all 'You don't wanna mess with us'. It was like straight out of some badaft movie!!" Of course when he says Bolt's line his voice is way more deep and rough than it should be for the Commander. Also, he's too busy flying like a loon to hear Raid's mention of freezing up.

<p class="MsoNormal">Silverbolt sighs. "Thank you both for the compliments, but I just did what I had to do. It was my responsibility to help our team protect those citizens..." Air Raid's mention of that 'freeze-up' has him bank away slightly. He doesn't want to talk about it, but he feels indebted to Air Raid. If Raid hadn't been there, First Aid might have perished. He sighs again. "Unfortunately it is, Air Raid. I just---I can't believe I almost offlined First Aid!"

<p class="MsoNormal">F-15E Strike Eagle <Air Raid> cannot help himself and haphazardly falls into a chase-and-flee dance with Fireflight, jetting up and occasionally cutting his engines to fall a short distance. "Tch, I wouldn't've let that happen. Ya' trust me right?" He levels out, always watchful of the Phantom. "...You're okay at this height, yeah? So what's the difference?"

<p class="MsoNormal">F-4 Phantom II <Fireflight> always enjoys a bit of aerial play, so he's more than happy to chase along with Raid, laughing as he does. But the fun doesn't last long when he flies back to Silverbolt, Fireflight 'aww'ing softly. "..Wait what? Almost offlined First Aid??" Engines give a burst, sending him back up beside the others, now hanging quite close inside Bolt's personal bubble. "I knew I missed something! You gotta tell me what happened! C'mon!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Silverbolt sighs once again. He didn't really want to tell Fireflight, but...

<p class="MsoNormal">"I was giving him a ride through Iaconian airspace. I pushed myself too far, and...

<p class="MsoNormal">"...and then I looked down. I panicked and stasis locked. The rest is history."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Don't dwell on it, yeah?" Raid murmurs, "Everyone has their fears. Except me of course." Best therapist. "You just gotta' stay up in some high air space for a while, get used to it. Did you talk to First Aid yet?"

<p class="MsoNormal">For once Fireflight is silent, a little stunned at the fact that Silverbolt actually panicked again. Been a while. But eventually he speaks, no longer giddy, instead sounding reassuring, "Yikes... Well, I'm glad you're still in one piece. Guess you didn't crash like me, huh?" He'd be smiling now if he could with a hand on a shoulder, but the best he can do right now is rub wings in sympathy.

<p class="MsoNormal">He also makes sure to give one of Raid's a sharp little smack, just because of that cocky attitude. And probably because he had somethign to do with Bolt's incident.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I've tried that, Air Raid." Silverbolt replies. "And I almost crashed. If Air Raid hadn't been there, First Aid would have fallen to his death. And I probably would have as well. That being said...Raid...don't get too cocky. Overconfidence tends to be the herald of failure."

<p class="MsoNormal">He hasn't spoken to First Aid, but he still believes he owes the medic an explanation. As much as he'd hate to tell someone else about his fears. So he's been putting it off.

<p class="MsoNormal">F-15E Strike Eagle <Air Raid> tilts and turns as if to sashay in the air. "Underconfidence leads you to plummet!" is his sassy retort. "Look boss, all the 'cons fly. We're among the few in the Autobot ranks that can. We gotta' be good at it. Damn good. I mean, at least Fireflight can take out an entire squadron if he times his missteps right. So you /didn't/ talk to First Aid? He might be able to help, y'know. That mech doesn't judge."

<p class="MsoNormal">"Hey now, look on the bright side! Almost is /way/ better than actually crashing. I should know!" Fireflight chuckles, barrel rolling away before coasting above them for a bit, tempted to give their tops a bump with his undercarriage just for fun. Raid's mention of his ability in a fight makes the mech waggle his ailerons happily, now listing from side to side in a delighted manner. "Yeah! ..And he's right, it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. Or you know, us."

<p class="MsoNormal">"I didn't say underconfidence was a good thing either!" Silverbolt argues. Though Air Raid is right about them being among the few Autobots who can fly. But then he calms down again. "Yeah, yeah...I know. I'll talk to him soon--when there's time." He is slightly encouraged by his comrades' words. "Thanks, guys."

<p class="MsoNormal">F-15E Strike Eagle <Air Raid> begins to feel like a bit of an ass. "You're pretty brave," he says in a kinder tone, "That's why Pr- ...Optimus made you the leader. You gotta' keep us on the right track, 'cause no

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