TITLE: Splice
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation – Off Balance
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
SUMMARY: Sam makes a first diagnosis of what happened to Sideswipe and Scavenger... kinda...


Scavenger had debated with himself long and hard, but when Sam Witwicky came for a brief stint of lab work and testing to Yuma, he knew he had to make up his mind or let the subject drop forever.

So he had made up his mind.

Sam looked at him with an odd expression as he sat on one of the mech-sized work tables, cross-legged, eyes intense.

“I thought something was up,” the human technopath finally said. “Sideswipe was getting so much more bearable.”

Scavenger smiled a little, a brief flash of red optics.

“I didn’t think he was actually sharing with anyone. Since he’s a twin and all.”

“It was never intended to be more than comfort; mutual pleasure.”

“Now it’s more?”

Scavenger shrugged. “That’s why I asked you.”

“You want me to scan you?” Sam sounded apprehensive, almost as if he doubted Scavenger’s sincerity.

The Constructicon nodded.

“You know what it involves,” Sam stated. He had been inside Scavenger’s mind throughout the long and hard process of separating the combiner mind and healing their fractured programs.

“Yes.”

“What do you think I can do?”

“Not do. Find. I want to know if something changed…”

“In what way? Any symptoms?”

It sounded almost medical. Scavenger silently ran the question around his mind.

“I think that something changed, Sam. Something no one could have predicted. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker share one spark and they have never sought out a partner. They never shared among themselves. They exist as two minds and two bodies, but one spark. Sideswipe shouldn’t… connect to me like that.”

Sam frowned. “Uhm, how?”

“Deeply, Sam. Unsettling deeply.”

Brows rose abruptly. “Like a bond?”

“No. I can’t feel him like that. I shouldn’t be so receptive either. Nor should he need to continue this relationship.”

Sam ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Okay. I’ll scan. This sounds weird, Scavenger.”

“Tell me about it.”

That got the Constructicon a grin. “Relax. You best sit down. I’ll try to be as quick as possible.”

Scavenger followed the advice and relaxed. He knew Sam’s touch and he knew the technopath wasn’t out to harm him.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Sam had no idea how to classify what he had touched and seen. He was intimately familiar with the bond shared by Jazz and Barricade.

It wasn’t like that.

He knew what he and Bumblebee shared, which was as close to a bond as a human could come.

It wasn’t that either.

Lennox and Ironhide were something completely unique.

And so were those three now.

Scavenger’s spark seemed to have attached itself to Sideswipe’s frequency and vice versa. There was a faint resonance that spoke of a familiarity that couldn’t be explained by regular sharing. Two mechs couldn’t alter each other’s resonance.

But those two had… changed.

Somehow.

Geez…

Sam looked into the red optics watching him calmly. “This is… strange,” he finally said.

“I figured.”

“And from all I know about sharing and bonds, it’s impossible. You shouldn’t be influenced by this, Scavenger.”

“But I am.”

“Not bonded, but more than sharing. Geez… And you really can’t feel him, right? No echoes, hums or pulses?”

“No.”

“All you get is the rush and the feeling that it’s right?”

Scavenger nodded.

Sam mulled that over, together with what he had felt and seen. Scavenger’s systems looked whole and healthy and strong. He had come out of the combiner separation just fine. He didn’t suffer. He hadn’t suffered. He had also handled it all pretty much like a normal mech would have. No more scars than any of the others.

Now that.

“I wish I could tell you what this is,” Sam finally said.

“I didn’t think you could give me an answer, Sam. I simply wanted to know that what I think might have happened, did.”

“Well, in a way, yes. If you think that you and Sideswipe now seem to be kinda resonating. God, that sounds bad.” Sam shook his head.

Scavenger chuckled. “To a human maybe.”

“But there are no other changes,” Sam added. “Nothing bad I can detect. You want to continue this?”

“Yes,” was the honest answer.

Sam tilted his head, a fine smile around his lips. “Okay.”

He was very well aware of the fact that his wasn’t anything close to a human relationship, or one between a human and a mech. But it was different than anything before now.

“Will you tell him?”

“I should,” Scavenger answered slowly. “He has a right to know. He’s as much involved as I am.”

“If Sideswipe pulls out of this after you break the news, will you be able to handle it?”

The Constructicon snorted. “This is hardly anything like your soaps, Sam.”

“Never said so. You’re just very much accustomed to it now.”

“It’s not an addiction.”

That got him a dubious look and Scavenger gave an electronic sigh.

“This isn’t anything we know, Scavenger,” the technopath said. “It’s new. You might start experiencing stuff, both of you, that no one can explain.”

“I know. I guess it’s too late anyway. It started out as an off balance sharing to give comfort. Now…”

“Now you’re achieving balance and it’s good?” Sam guessed with a smile.

“Yes.”

“Good for you then.”

And nothing anyone could do anything about.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Scavenger mulled over what Sam had told him and he knew things would get more complicated in the future. Not a bond, not a simple interface. Something that was somewhere between those two, but couldn’t be defined. No handy definition. No category they could put it into.

And changing.

Sunstreaker took the news almost stoically. He had been there when Scavenger had sought out Sideswipe and told the Constructicon that whatever this was about, it concerned him, too.

In a way it did. Scavenger had briefly wondered whether Sunstreaker shared a twin frequency as well. If so, matters would get difficult.

Sideswipe had a guilty expression in his optics. “You mind?” he asked before his twin could say anything.

“No. Do you?”

It got him narrowed optics from Sunstreaker whose misgiving expression hadn’t wavered. Scavenger couldn’t care less what the other Autobot thought. This was about him and Sideswipe.

Sideswipe looked even more guilty. “I’m sorry,” the silver mech finally said.

“Not your fault,” Scavenger readily told him. “I agreed. It was what I wanted.”

“So what we got now is a splice,” Sideswipe said. “No bond, no link, no simple sharing. Parts are interwoven, but not completely.”

Scavenger nodded. “Seems like we have overlapping spark energies.”

Sunstreaker growled something inaudible and suddenly stalked off, pushing past his twin. Sideswipe gave an electronic sigh and shook his head.

“Not working out well?” Scavenger asked, sounding almost even.

Sideswipe shrugged. “Today was one of the better days.”

“Really.”

He grinned. “Yeah. He didn’t sock me one. But he’s getting better. This is getting to him. Earth, the loss of the Allspark, Lennox, Sam, you, me, Tony, the five Primes… Called him an old geezer for being so inflexible.”

The Constructicon smiled. Sideswipe shrugged.

“He socked you one?” Scavenger hazarded a guess.

“Nah. We raced, got beaten by Jazz, and he was fine.”

“Till now.”

Sideswipe was suddenly closer, brushing inquisitive hands over shielded nodes. It was one change from what mechs normally did when sharing. Caresses did nothing, relayed no energy. But this… this did. This was teasing and inquisitive, as well as slightly pushy. He had no idea if the Autobot understood it was a very human gesture, and Scavenger, who knew humans, found it strangely compelling.

He regarded Sideswipe steadily. He didn’t say that this was different. He didn’t need to.

Again it was something new.

So very, very new.

And so very, very good. Overwhelming his circuits, their circuits, pushing them further past what could have been easy and what might be easy now – now that they understood.

::You want it:: Sideswipe whispered.

::Yes, all of it::

The sparks connected to one, became one, and Scavenger’s optics turned dark as he let himself fall.

The world took on a an electric blue hue, then everything was drowned in the rush.